going home
by czqy
Summary: Keith, prince of the Galra Empire, has been sent to Earth for his safety, where he will attend the Galaxy Garrison. Initially, all he wants is to just get through school and go back home as soon as he can. This proves to be difficult and his plans soon change, throwing him into a position he never could've imagined. /* HIATUS */ as of 190114, see Chapter 6 for details
1. Prologue

**A/N:** this is very loosely based off the prompt "my country's going through some issues so i'm here in hiding and you're a civilian who lives in the same apartment complex as me" which I actually got at the same time as my previous multichaptered fic so. this has been a long time coming. enjoy!

* * *

"You can't just send me away!"

"Keith, honey, please. You—"

"No! I am the Galran prince! How can I still be the prince if I'm on another planet? This is my home!" Keith stood up, clenched his hands into fists and glared at his mother.

She sighed, sat down on Keith's bed, and patted the spot beside her. "Sit." After a moment of silence Keith relented and sat down. "Do you think I want you to go? I know it's hard to comprehend, but it's also for your safety. Hey, don't scoff at me. When General Zarkon first told me of this I was furious too, and I told him this was the safest place for any Galra to be. But you know how it is, he's in charge, and whatever he says goes. It might not be so bad, I hear you can learn how to fly at the Galaxy Garrison, isn't that what you've always wanted to do?"

Keith nodded, but kept his head down. When his mum pulled him into a hug, he buried his head into her shoulder.

"How long will I be gone?"

"I don't know sweetie, but it won't be forever. Cheer up, okay? We still have some time to go."

* * *

The next day, Zarkon made a public announcement. It was done in front of a massive crowd, as well as broadcast across the whole of the Galra Empire so Keith had to be dressed suitably. His royal attire was reserved for formal events, so he only got to wear it a few times every year. It was a very impressive outfit, briefly based off the armour of the highest ranking officers in their army. The biggest difference was in the colours, he had mostly brilliant dark purples and deep maroons to represent his status. While the chest emblem for some officers and soldiers glowed a purple colour, and while some didn't glow at all, his had a bright yellow candescence. His royal cape was also a maroon colour, but with a navy blue underlining. Keith did enjoy wearing the outfit, even though it usually meant he had to attend long and boring events.

Keith sat with his mother and watched Zarkon tell the crowd in front of them how "Crown Prince Keithen will be sent to Earth for his safety, so that he can return after the war to a new era of peace and prosperity, and oversee our empire without any interruptions". Keith felt incredibly unamused and probably would've shown that fact were it not for his mother glaring at him every few doboshes. When the speech was over, a ceremony was held where Keith had to endure countless members of the Galra Empire approaching him and wishing him a safe trip, while also assuring him they will continue to dedicate their lives to the empire while he was gone. Keith shook every single one of their hands and thanked them for their devotion in response, no matter whether he actually meant it or not. By the end of the whole thing, he just wanted to go back to his room and stay there until the day he had to leave.

* * *

Fortunately, it quietened down within the next few days. Business resumed as usual and Keith spent most of his days either training, practising the universal language used on Earth, or reading up on Earthly customs. He had also visited the druids to receive his supply of Quintessence.

Quintessence was basically the reason as to why the war started, and it was so important that even as royalty Keith could not gain access to it. Needless to say, he was quite excited to have some in his possession.

"Now, Your Highness, this isn't something to be fooled around with, do you understand?"

Keith nodded, saw that the druids were waiting for a verbal response and grunted out a "yes I understand". He then held out his arm so he could be shown how to use it.

"Apply a few drops onto a section of your body, and then rub it in with a circular motion. When there is no visible yellow left, you should start to feel your body surge with an unfamiliar energy. It may feel intrusive at first, but you'll become accustomed to it. Then, and I trust that you've been practising, you need to shapeshift into a human. You should find it a lot easier than usual, Quintessence amplifies your abilities. Try it now."

Because a druid had applied Quintessence while explaining how it worked, Keith could already feel a tingling sensation course through his body. He then took a deep breath in and imagined the arm of a human, how different their skin colour was and how they had furless arms. He tried focusing the energy into that section of his arm and watched as it slowly transformed into something resembling the image in his mind.

The druids nodded and commended him. Still amazed, Keith kept his eyes on his now-human arm and asked why he's taking what he thought was so little Quintessence with him. After all, no one knew how long he would be gone.

"Quintessence goes a long way, Your Highness; so long as you do not actively try to shift back into your natural form and maintain a basic focus on holding your shift, one application can last up to a few days. Be sure to only apply the bare minimum required though, because while you do not need to use a lot at once, you still do have a limited supply. Rest assured, however, that we _will_ find a way to provide you with more should you run out."

Keith headed back to his room with his bag of Quintessence and decided to keep his human arm for now. The sight was unusual for him, even though he had seen countless images of humans while honing his skill. It was different seeing something on a picture or through a video and seeing it on yourself. He wondered what he would look like fully as a human, and whether he would fit in without any trouble.

* * *

The night before Keith left he decided to go to the observatory deck and look at the stars. Strangely, he hadn't really gone anywhere since he learnt he would be going to Earth. It felt like desertion, so he had barely even left the castle. The deck was different though, it was open to all inhabitants of the castle, but Keith found that no one went there as much as he did and it became his special place. He first stumbled upon it as a child, playing hide-and-seek with one of the servants. He was trying to find the servant and ran into the room which had massive glass panes all around and an entire view of the city. He never found the servant that round, but he decided discovering this room was worth losing all the hide-and-seek games in the world. On the left he could see the castle gardens, as well as many of the residential buildings that had purple-red lights at night. Facing forward he had the widest outlook of the city, and from the highest point. As a child, he enjoyed standing there and pretending he was emperor, looking down and watching over his empire and people. The right side was his favourite, there was no infrastructure and it had the clearest view of the night sky. Even as the years went by, when buildings changed and the whole city became more military-like the right side remained untouched, and the view was as clear as ever.

Tonight it was still empty as usual, and Keith was appreciative for the solitude. This time, unlike many previous times, he made sure to take in every view, and with as much detail as he could. He wanted to have a clear image of his home in mind while he was gone. As he stood over the city, he reminisced what it was like just ten years ago, how the empire had seemed then. Right then and there, he vowed to make sure it would return to that state when he ruled.

Moving to the right side, Keith was suddenly overcome with a wave of emotions. Over the past week or so he hadn't properly given his situation any thought, choosing to bury it under work and training. Now that he was alone and looking at the vast sky all those feelings seemed to bubble over. He felt anger towards Zarkon for sending him away from his home, sadness for being forced to leave the only place he's ever known, and just… defeated. He did not want to leave his home, or his people, and especially not his mum. It felt like abandonment and the last thing he wanted was to feel as if he had not properly fulfilled his role.

Wiping away a few stray tears, Keith told himself that there was nothing he could do besides make the best out of his circumstances. He would go to Earth, do whatever he had to do there, then come back home and start taking back the empire. He also decided to commit as many stars and constellations as he could see into memory, because even though the planets may be different some of the stars were bound to be the same. He would still be under the same sky no matter how far away he was.

* * *

The day Keith left for Earth was an uneventful one, much to Keith's relief. He packed in the morning, including the bag of Quintessence and some human clothes the druids supplied, then went about his day as he usually would. Only towards night were things different from usual. After dinner with his mother, they walked to the hangars together, where they found General Zarkon and a few druids waiting.

"Prince Keithen, the coordinates for your pod have been set for Earth, and you should expect to arrive at the Galaxy Garrison within a few varga. When you do, the pod will automatically set a course to return here. I wish you the very best for your journey and stay. Please excuse myself for the abruptness but I must take leave as there is urgent business to attend to." General Zarkon bowed, and swiftly walked off with the druids following. Keith was quite surprised he showed up to send him off, but was not amazed that he left as soon as he could. Once they were out of eyeshot, Keith turned to his mum.

"So, I—"

"Don't be too upset when you're on Earth okay? Try to make some friends, or at least be friendly, I don't want you to be alone the whole time. Make sure you take care of yourself too, exercise, and the food may taste weird but please remember to eat, I cannot stand the thought of not knowing whether you are being healthy or not." Keith's mother suddenly could not stop talking and Keith was unsure whether to stay silent or cut her off.

"Mum! I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay. One last thing. Two last things. Can you show me what you look like as a human? We can check that you'll be able to shapeshift back as well." It was an odd request and Keith wanted to ask questions but it was his mother, and it was also the last time he was going to see her for who knows how long so he agreed wordlessly.

Keith took out a vial of Quintessence, applied a few drops to exposed areas—his head, neck, hands—and rubbed it in. This time he was thrown off balance as it took effect. His vision blurred, and it felt like he was being pricked by needles. Still, he forced himself to focus and shift. It took a little longer than he remembered, possibly due to the larger scale, but he still did it. When he was done, he lifted his head and saw that his mum was close to tears.

Immediately he surged forward and pulled her into a hug. "I'll be okay. Please don't cry, and don't worry about me, I'll be back as soon as I can. Do you remember that sheet I gave you during dinner? It's of a bunch of stars and constellations I found, so that way if you're missing me you can go to the observatory deck and watch them. I'll be doing it on Earth too, so, really, it won't be so bad."

They pulled apart and Keith's mum ruffled his hair. "No, I'm fine, it was just that… You look good like this, honey. And the stars idea is brilliant too, I'll be sure to do that. Now let's see you transform back, shall we?"

Last time Keith had just let the Quintessence wear off, so he didn't know what it'd be like to shift back before it could happen, nor how much effort it would take. He decided to drop his focus first, and saw that immediately a portion of him returned to Galra form. When he then pictured his appearance, all his natural features came back. It barely took any time, and was a lot easier than transforming into a human. Keith's mum watched him, looking proud.

"Here is the last thing I need to give to you, and then it'll be time to leave." She pulled out something from inside her robe and handed it over to Keith. He took it and saw that it was completely wrapped up, but had the shape of a dagger. He then recognised it as his mother's personal blade.

"Why are you giving this to me? It's yours."

"It wouldn't be fair if I had a way to remember my son and he had no way to remember me, would it?" She smiled and hugged him once more.

This time, they pulled apart because they heard footsteps approaching. It was odd, since Keith's pod was the only one scheduled to leave the hangar, and no others were supposed to be entering. They both immediately turned their heads to the direction where the sound was coming from and saw two suited creatures being escorted, as well as another being dragged along the floor.

The warmth shown to Keith by his mother was suddenly replaced with a cold demeanour. When she turned back to Keith, however, her eyes softened.

"I better go check this out. Stay safe, okay? I love you always, and I'll see you soon." With that, and with a kiss on the forehead, Keith's mother strode off, in a way only an Empress could. A part of Keith was glad he would be getting away from royal affairs and being part of a war, but he knew that was a selfish notion, and felt guilty for thinking it.

Keith made sure his bags were all set and loaded before climbing into the pod and turning it on. He felt the same exhilarating rush he always did when a pod blasted off but it didn't last long. The fact he was not going to be home for a long time sunk in, and he felt overcome with dread. He turned his head around as far as he could to watch his planet grow smaller and smaller, before setting his sights forward on what was to come.

* * *

 **A/N: next chapter will most probably be up around the same time next week, unless something comes up (which is unlikely)**


	2. Chapter 1

Keith arrived at a desert near the Galaxy Garrison on Earth just as his patience began to wear thin. Being in a pod with no control over where it was going and nothing to keep you entertained was very boring. As soon as he entered the Earth's atmosphere, however, he became filled with interest. The clear blue sky was so bright Keith felt temporarily blinded when he first looked at it. While flying over some buildings, he found that they were very colourful, and all varied with each other. Earth was starkly different to Daibazaal, but as he noticed more differences and made more comparisons, it only seemed to make him long for home.

The barrenness of his surroundings meant Keith could apply Quintessence and shift without also having to be cautious of others potentially seeing him. He was on edge, of course, this was a foreign planet, but he was thankful he didn't have to be _extra_ aware. This time, due to having to shift his entire body, it took a lot out of him, and it took a while. It wasn't so much the shifting that sapped his energy, the Quintessence made sure of that, but it was rather the fact that Keith had different features now. He was in a different skin, literally, and it was disorienting. He leaned against the chair in the pod as his body became accustomed to the changes. He found that the biggest differences were in his senses—he could no longer hear or smell as well, and couldn't see as far as he used to, although things close by were now a lot clearer. His sense of touch seemed to have heightened, which was probably due to the loss of fur, and had no clue about what the changes in his taste buds were, but figured he would find out sooner or later. The one good thing that seemed to have come out of changing was that after he shifted he felt a lot cooler, and when he was blasted with heat after exiting the pod, he was glad he was no longer in Galra form. When standing beside the pod he noticed that it was bigger than when he left, and then realised, with distaste, that he had shrunk in height. He was unhappy, but it was probably so that he wouldn't stand out as much with the humans. As he made his way to the Galaxy Garrison facility with his stuff, he could feel himself start to sweat, the heat still being more than what he was used to.

As he walked he took in his surroundings—the blue sky above, the hot air with a cold breeze blowing, and also the unstableness of the ground below him. When he first started walking he wanted to get to the facility as soon as possible so he tried to run, but learnt that it was not an easy task. The ground underneath was uneven and gave way when he applied a lot of pressure, so he ended up falling and sent particles flying everywhere. He got back up and brushed himself off, but continued to find sand on himself from time to time. What he found the most contrasting were the colours. On Daibazaal everything more or less followed the same scheme, yet on Earth it looked like random colours were just thrown together. Even his own outfit—a grey shirt, black pants and a red jacket with a yellow stripe—seemed uncoordinated. He only hoped that the druids weren't tricking him and others would look like this as well.

Halfway to the Galaxy Garrison Keith decided to check on the pod, and wanted to see how visible it was. Surprisingly, it seemed to have blended in with its surroundings, so no one would be able to spot it unless they knew it was there. Even Keith started to doubt himself, thinking maybe it had taken off already. However, just as he was about to face back forward he heard the familiar whirl of an engine and saw sand explode in all directions. A small tornado formed, and Keith knew that it meant he was truly stuck here now.

* * *

The Galaxy Garrison was really a magnificent piece of architecture to look at. It was massive; the main premises was rectangular shaped, but the actual facility had different sectors protruding outward and upward, and the whole thing seemed to be surrounded by some sort of barrier. At the very top there was a yellow circle surrounded by red lines and curves, which Keith assumed to be a logo of some sort. He was also excited to see that there were many roofs he could potentially climb on top of. The establishment was in the middle of nowhere, and being at a higher altitude would provide him with the clearest view of the night sky and stars.

As he approached the first entrance, he saw a signage which read "The Galaxy Garrison", and stated its establishment date. He walked forwards a bit more, and was suddenly met with a crowd of humans. Now, Keith had seen images of humans before, he knew what they looked like and how they varied, but seeing them in real life and in such a large amount made him feel somewhat overpowered. He suddenly felt like a complete outsider, even though he 'looked' like them. He became afraid that he would not be able to pass off as a human, and would be found out immediately. He doubted all his readings and the stories he had heard on his home planet, and thought that perhaps he should've fought harder against coming here. _This was a big mistake_ , Keith thought, and as he tried to calm himself down he observed the crowd and their behaviours.

The human race, Keith realised, really was diverse. They could be range anywhere between being tall or short, small or large, muscular or lanky, dark-skinned or light-skinned, and wore all kinds of different clothing in various colours. He noticed that he would not have been the tallest if he stayed the same height, and started to wonder why he even became shorter. There seemed to be so many of them altogether because they were families, sending their children or siblings off. From the ones Keith discerned to be students, he found that some looked extremely excited while others looked anxious and scared. Either way, they all had relatives to hype them up or help them feel better, which made Keith miss his mum. He wondered whether she would be sleeping right now; seeing as he left at night on Daibazaal and arrived on Earth during the day, there must be quite a big time difference—something he would have to calculate and sort out later. Keith was extremely close to his mum, she was the only family member he had around, but even then they couldn't spend all their time together because she had royal duties to attend to which ended up taking most of her time. Now, being here on this foreign planet, Keith hoped that she wouldn't bury herself in work because Keith wasn't there to stop her or keep her company. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he looked around a bit harder and found that he wasn't the only one alone. There seemed to be other members of the crowd standing off on the side, majority of them looking nervous. He also saw that some of them banded together, keeping each other company. As nice as it would be to start interacting and blending in with everyone, Keith decided to remain by himself and stay away from where the crowds were most concentrated. If Keith hadn't been told beforehand, he still would've been able to realise that today was the first day. This relaxed him a bit; even if some people did already know each other, at least he wouldn't be the only one entirely new.

Finally, the doors opened and staff members came out to address the crowd. They wore light grey coats with one visible button on the right side, black belts, dark grey pants, black boots, and a dark-coloured hat with a golden insignia. The uniform was devoid of colour save for the orange that showed because all the officers had their sleeves folded over. Additionally, they had three golden bars on the shoulders of their coats, and wore an orange-coloured insignia over their hearts. One of them, whom Keith assumed to be the one in charge, had a very authorial vibe and looked like he had the scowl that was currently on his face permanently plastered there.

"May I have your attention please," the man's voice boomed and the crowd went silent. "My name is Commander Iverson, and I will be in charge of training the students. Firstly, I would like to welcome you all to our facility, and to welcome all students to their orientation day. We understand that the journey may not have been easy, however we are very thankful for your efforts and interests in joining our program. Secondly, I must address some of the rules we have surrounding those enrolled in our program. From the moment you set foot through this door, you are cadets. Cadets will stay in dormitories and have a curfew they must adhere to; they will not be allowed to traverse the Garrison halls after certain hours; teacher and staff areas are always _off limits_. There are basic disciplinary rules set in place to ensure that all students will receive an equal education and come across as many opportunities as possible. Anyone found not adhering by the rules _will_ be punished, and a repeat offender may be expelled _without_ warning. Furthermore, after the program commences there will be scheduled periods of time where students are allowed to leave the premises to visit family or go elsewhere. We would like to remind them that when they are going outside, they are representatives of our facility and should not cause any damage to our reputation. If cadets are unable to, or do not wish to leave during the scheduled times, they will be taken care of here, although they are not allowed to request to leave at a different time. Visitors are generally not permitted on site, unless special circumstances are present. They are, however, allowed to make their way to the entrance gate and request for whomever they would like to see. This concludes my introduction. Now, if all cadets could please proceed to the main entrance for registration, where we will then be providing an overview of the program and put you through some tests. Afterwards, you will have the rest of the day to explore the facility if you wish. Once again, thank you all for coming." With that, the man turned around and started towards the main structure. Many students ran after him, while others stayed behind to say one final goodbye to their family.

Keith, with nothing else to wait for and no one to farewell, began heading in with majority of the crowd. It wasn't a short walk to the registration site, but it allowed Keith to still any remaining nerves and once again take in the establishment. As he came to terms with just how big it was, he started to feel anticipation for all the places he could explore. Finally, he made it to the registration tables and saw many more officers in their grey uniforms sitting behind them. He stood in a line and slowly made his way to the front as more and more people got approved. He soon came face-to-face with a young-looking woman in glasses who asked for his name, and he froze. He realised he had no clue whether he was even registered, and what name it would be under if he was. He decided his best shot was trying his real name, but could barely mutter out 'Kei' before the woman interjected saying "Keith? Born October 23rd?" Keith of course had no idea when he birthday was in Earth time so just went with it and nodded. The woman then smiled and marked his name out on the sheet in front of her. "Please head to your right to have your photo taken for ID. Welcome to the Garrison!"

Keith then joined another line, and watched as those before him stood in front of a camera and waited for a flash to go off. Keith had had photos taken before, but only a few times, and never with a bright light shining at him. When it was his turn, he couldn't help but blink when the light went off, annoying the photographer a bit more every time, until he could finally keep his eyes open. Just as he stepped away, the photographer motioned him over and showed him his photo. Keith saw nothing wrong with it, until the photographer told him "I don't know what happened, but for some reason the pupils of your eyes have shown up as yellow. We can fix it post-processing though, so don't you worry." Keith only then noticed that his eyes were in fact giving off a yellow colour. He made a mental note to stay away from photos with flash, and photos in general, just in case it was capable of exposing his true form.

After the whole registration process was done, Keith walked through the main entrance and made his way over to where all the other students were waiting—in the middle of a square enclosed by sections of the main structure. Here, even more of them were talking to each other, already forming groups and friendships. Once again, Keith stayed on the outskirts, not wanting to get involved.

"Alright cadets!" This time it was a woman who addressed them, and she seemed a lot more cheerful than the other guy. "I'm one of the other instructors here, you may call me Professor Hendrick. I'm sure many of you already know about our program and its values, but I will be going into a bit more detail as to how it actually works. As you were told, you are staying in dormitories and will be given a curfew. Dorms are sorted into groups of four, by gender, and they will be your team for the rest of your time here. I'll talk about that a bit more soon, but firstly, the classes. You are all in this program to become astro explorers, so as expected you will be taking physics, maths, and flying classes—even if you are not a pilot. This is because those classes are designed to give you a feel for the various machines, and to teach you how they operate. Those are the three main classes, however you all must also choose elective classes to take. Some of the elective classes include history, self-defence, international relations and English.

"There will be exams at the end of the semester to test your knowledge, however nothing really bad will happen if you do not pass—which is not to say you should not study, getting top scores will be beneficial for you. What you should worry about is the flight simulation exam. If you do not pass that, you may be expelled or put into a lower class. You will partake in flight simulations with the members of your dorm, or in other words, your team. This means that every dorm will have an engineer, a communications specialist, and two pilots—one from the cargo class and the other from the fighter class. Everyone will be taking different flying classes depending on who they are, but will all be in the same simulator. It may seem odd that there are two pilots, but it has been done this way so they will know how to perform both roles, and may be swapped around if they turn out to be better suited for the other role. The other reason is for safety purposes, in the case of an emergency and one of them becomes unable to fly, the other will take over. While the cargo pilot may not always fly or be in charge during simulations, they are responsible for providing second opinions on piloting decisions, keeping pilot error to a minimum—so neither job is more important than the other. Your role will be determined by the tests you are about to take, however you are welcome to put in a special request, so long as you understand that your wishes may not be granted." As soon as the woman stopped speaking the crowd began murmuring, guessing which roles they were going to get and what electives they wanted to pick. They turned silent again when a staff member began splitting everyone off into groups for testing.

Keith's group was up for physical testing first, which he was grateful for because he was starting to feel a little drowsy. It wasn't enough to affect his physical capabilities, but being active would help freshen him up and keep him awake. They did basic skill tests including sprinting, push-ups, vertical and horizontal jumps, and the sit and reach test. Keith found them all quite simple, and was surprised to see that not everyone was doing so well. He guessed that it meant not all humans went through training on a regular basis. When they started academic testing, however, Keith struggled. He wasn't a bad learner, per se, but it was difficult for him to retain knowledge on things he had absolutely no interest in. The tests he took were designed so that no background knowledge was needed to complete them, but he still had a hard time. The fact that he also had to read and answer almost everything in English did not help and did a number on his brain, so by the end of it all he wanted was to be allocated a dorm room so he could go to sleep. He felt guilty for not trying his hardest and guessing answers towards the end, but justified it by telling himself he did his best in the physical tests, which was his forte.

At last, all the tests were concluded and everyone gathered back together at the center of the square. They were commended on their efforts and told that they would soon find out their teams. Keith expected that they would have to wait a while, considering the fact they had to calculate individual results, sort them into suitable groups and then allocate them into dorms. Surprisingly, it didn't actually take very long at all. They must have been inputting the academic tests to be marked and submitting the physical test scores as soon as they were completed, and had a really powerful algorithm because before Keith knew it holograms popped up everywhere with a list of everyone's names, along with their teams and dorm rooms. It reminded Keith of the technology at home, except not as powerful and having a different colour scheme—orange and blue, which didn't look as horrible as he would've imagined. Keith made his way over to one of the many projections and tried to find his name on the very long list. They had conveniently sorted every team into a table, with the names of everyone in the title, and then listed the names again in the actual box with their specific role, so they didn't have to waste their time going through every single line. Keith found his team and saw that he was listed first, with "fighter pilot" written next to his name. It wasn't unexpected, he knew that he would be a pilot, and he really didn't care which so long as he could fly.

He read the names of the other people in his team and wondered how he was supposed to find them and group up, when he heard a very loud "where's Keith?" yelled out from the crowd. He, along with everyone else, turned to the direction where the sound came from and saw that it came from someone lean in a green jacket and jeans. Beside him stood someone in a yellow shirt and green vest, who wore a headband and looked mortified at the sudden attention. There was silence for a moment, and when no one responded chatter filled the atmosphere again. Keith assumed they were referring to him, and made his way through the crowd to them, a bit annoyed at a spotlight was shone on him, even if it was indirectly. As he got closer, he saw that there was a third member with them wearing glasses, whom Keith didn't see earlier because he was pretty short. He also saw that the other two were taller than him and that only seemed to feed his annoyance more. When he finally got within earshot, he let himself be known.

"I'm Keith."

Before anyone could respond, they were silenced, and Professor Hendrick addressed them once more.

"Cadets, once again congratulations on your efforts, we are very excited to be training all of you. I hope that by now you have figured out your role, and who you are in a team with. If you have not found them yet, please do so before heading to the dorms. In your dorms you will find four personal devices that will be yours to use while you are here. After settling in, please set up the devices using the instructions provided and sign up for elective classes. I hope you are all aware that classes only formally begin in two days, so you will have ample time to get to know your team and explore the facilities. Welcome to the start of your Galaxy Garrison career, you are all dismissed."

As soon as those words left the professor's mouth, glasses guy walked off without a word and left everyone staring. The other two began conversing immediately after, wondering why he had gone off so quickly. Keith continued to stare after the glasses guy and only acknowledged the other two when they introduced themselves to him. "Hi!" the skinny dude said, "I'm Lance!" The headband guy greeted him as well and said his name was Hunk. Keith didn't say anything in response and just nodded, so Lance asked him whether he was excited to be here. Keith looked at the projections which now showed maps of the facility to find their dorm, and offhandedly murmured a "yeah" in response to the question. He then picked up his bags and walked away, seeing a brief flash of hurt cross the faces of the two boys.

* * *

The interior of the Galaxy Garrison resembled exterior, and it didn't seem very homely nor welcome even as Keith made his way through the corridors and found his dorm room. It looked very plain from the outside, there was only a door the same colour as the walls and an orange door plate with the room number. The design and atmosphere didn't change on the inside, either. It had a basic, minimalistic layout with two sets of bunk beds located in either side of the wall, a large rectangular window with a view of the outside, and another room which Keith didn't know the contents to because the door was closed. He would've gone and checked it out, if he had not suddenly been stuck in the middle of the room facing the window.

He was still frozen in place even when Hunk and Lance came in excitedly, however long after he first entered the room. He watched as they took in everything, immediately swinging open the closed door to reveal a bathroom and exclaiming "we have our own bathroom and shower!" They also turned on all the lights, some of which glowed blue, which only made them even more ecstatic.

"Hunk! Can you believe we're really here? God, we're in _the_ Galaxy Garrison right now. This is _our_ room!" Keith noticed that Lance was extremely sociable and open; despite only meeting Hunk today, he was able to make it seem like they had known each other for years and create a comfortable atmosphere. Hunk, who was the more timid of the two, just nodded.

The last thing the duo seemed notice were the beds. They had taken one look at them, then at each other, and slowly turned their heads to Keith—acknowledging him for the first time since entering the room. Keith didn't understand why or what they were expecting from him, so he remained silent, which in turn meant that for a moment no one spoke and they were all just looking at each other.

"Uh," Lance was the one who broke the silence, "so which bed do you want, Keith?"

Keith could only stare back at him, still stuck in whatever trance it was that kept him glued in the one spot. Then, as if on autopilot, he picked up one of his bags and threw it on the top bunk to his left. He didn't do anything more than that, but Lance and Hunk got the point. They looked back at each other and shrugged, then took the top and bottom right bunks respectively.

As Hunk and Lance fell back into natural conversation and began unpacking, Keith was finally able to gain control over his body and move again. He too began unloading his stuff and organised them into the closet that was in the wall next to his bunk bed. As he did this, he found himself subconsciously listening in on Lance and Hunk's conversation, and learned about all the little hidden details of the dorm room they were finding. Once he caught himself he would then try his best to make himself stop. He valued his privacy, and believed that he should allow it for others so that they would in turn do the same for him.

After settling in, Lance and Hunk headed out to explore the facility, opting to sign up for electives later. They extended an invitation to Keith, but he declined, saying he needed to get some rest. It wasn't a lie, he was _really_ tired, but the main reason was also so that he could be alone for a while. He realised that sharing a room with three others meant he wouldn't always get alone time when he needed anymore, unlike at the castle where he was barely around anyone else but his mum, so he wanted to make use of all the time he could get. He also wanted to be by himself so he could reflect on a few things without distractions, especially on what happened earlier when he felt like he couldn't move.

Keith climbed atop his new bed and found that it was actually quite comfortable. He tried going to sleep but found that he could barely drift off, so instead he just lay there, put his hands under his head and stared up at the ceiling. He could hear chattering outside the room in the halls and the sounds of machines outside. It was starkly different to the quietness of the castle on Daibazaal, and it made him a bit uneasy. "You better get used to this", he told himself, "this is your life now."

* * *

 **A/N:** sooooo, now that you guys have gotten a rough idea of what the fic is gonna be like I have a question to ask. would you prefer if I wrote a bunch of chapters so I could release them at regular intervals, or release as I write? I always try to be one or two chapters ahead, and I have a schedule I want to follow, but school and others things could get in the way so I don't know how things will turn out. please be aware that if it's decided I update at regular intervals, it may mean waiting a while before a next update (so I can catch up etc)

shoutout to **Seeker of Stars** for reviewing the previous chapter, thankyou! I hope you enjoy what's to come. (I always wish I can respond to reviews without PMing, so I might do this from now on?) also shoutout to everyone else who favourited or followed, those notifications make my day tbh.

lastly, next chapter (unless things change) will be up in **two** weeks. my tumblr is fandomtravellers if you want to ask about it, or talk, or anything :)


	3. Chapter 2

When Keith finally managed to fall asleep, he did so all through the night and until late morning in Earth time. He woke up slightly uncomfortable, and thought it was because of the clothes he was wearing, until he realised he had half-shifted back to Galra form while unconscious. His outfit was bordering on being uncomfortably tight, and with one quick peek at his body under the covers, he could see that some purple and fur had started to return. Immediately he refocused on becoming human again, and felt the buzz of energy as well as saw himself go back to full human form. There was nothing he could do about shifting through the night when he was asleep, but he made a mental note to always check after waking up and reshift if necessary.

Keith got out of bed and got ready half-groggily, thankful that he still had another full day of rest before starting classes. That thought let him to remember with a jolt that he had to sign up for some classes, but felt disheartened when he realised he forgot how. He tried to recall what the professor said to them yesterday, but that entire speech was a blur, so he just walked around the room for a while, checking the closets and such, until he remembered the excitement of his two roommates when they discovered they had a TV and small table folded into the walls next to their beds.

" _We have our own table and TV! The table is detachable too!"_

" _Hm, it's a bit small but I guess that's the only way it could've fit in the wall. Oh hey, our devices are here. It's weird that they put it with the tables, what if people don't notice it?"_

" _That's their bad then, they shouldn't have come here. Or… maybe it was a test to weed out the weak."_

" _W-weak? Weed out?"_

" _You know, like those hidden tests or experiments to figure out whether you're actually suitable for something. Maybe they'll kick out the cadets who can't find the device or sign up for electives."_

" _I hope not, that's a bit harsh."_

" _We're in the real world now, and the real world is harsh. Anyways, let's sign up for classes later, I want to go check out the rest of the facility."_

Keith made his way back to his bed and found the table along with his device. While following the instructions to set it up, Keith wondered whether what they said was true. If this truly was a test, and if he was alone, he may have failed it and gotten expelled. He thought about what his mum would say to that, or what Zarkon would do. Would he even be allowed to go home then? What could Keith even do if he was kicked out? He had no security here, and no one to rely on. He realised he couldn't risk anything, and it sunk in that he had to stay enrolled in the Galaxy Garrison not matter what, or else who knows what would happen. Keith forced himself to try shake off his emotions before they could start spiralling downwards any further, or at least push them into the very back of his mind.

 _Focus, breathe._

Keith's device finally finished loading, saving him from his thoughts, and he saw the list of classes he could pick. Without thinking, he put self-defence as his first preference. It was the only subject that would probably be mainly based around physical activity, and Keith wanted to be able to train somehow. The other subjects were a lot less active, and therefore less appealing to Keith. In the end, he just picked some he thought he wouldn't hate and submitted the form.

After signing up for electives Keith had just started thinking about what he should do next and where he should head off to when he stomach grumbled—very loudly. He felt embarrassed and started looking for an excuse but then realised the dorm room was empty, all his roommates had gone out already. Or maybe they didn't return the previous night, he wouldn't know. He didn't even know the name of the glasses guy, who would've been sleeping in the bed below him. Keith felt he should know, they had displayed all the team members' names yesterday after all, but he could barely remember the names of the two teammates he was actually introduced to, so he decided that if they were important he would know them in due time.

Navigating through the Galaxy Garrison halls was hard. Everything looked the exact same and they only had a few signs with minimal directions as to where everything was. It reminded Keith of the castle, where he had spent most of his childhood learning and finding out about where all the corridors led to and where all the various kinds of rooms were. He didn't understand why they couldn't have a massive map somewhere, or even just pieces of paper people could take with the maps on them, or at the very least show very clear directions. He then remembered what his mum had told him one day after he got lost and was very upset about it.

" _It's for our safety, sweetie. It protects us. If an enemy infiltrates the castle they won't know where to go and we'll be able to hide or escape without getting caught!"_

Keith didn't believe it would be _that_ helpful if even the inhabitants wouldn't know where to go, but decided his mother was correct anyways, and started committing every detail into memory instead of complaining. Whenever he got lost or lost his sense of direction, he no longer felt afraid and instead took it as an opportunity to discover even more aspects of the castle—it was what led him to find the observatory. At the end of the day, the castle's complexity was keeping Keith safe and also made him the master of hide-and-seek, so it wasn't that bad after all. This, however, did not explain to Keith why the Galaxy Garrison also had to be designed this way and doubted it was for safety measures when they were in the middle of nowhere. After pouting and murmuring to himself a little, Keith continued his hunt for the cafeteria in frustration and hunger, ignoring the strange looks some passersby threw him.

* * *

Earth food wasn't as bad as Keith expected it to be, there were just a lot flavours and many things going on at once. It overwhelming—especially after not eating in a while—but it wasn't unbearable, and was nothing like what his mother had made it out to be. Perhaps it was the human taste buds changing his perception, but he could see himself enjoying it food in the future.

When Keith got up and stole a few snacks to take back to his room, he saw two of his roommates being ushered out the back.

"Yes, fine," one of the staff members said, "we will grant you permission to use the kitchen. Just, leave, first, please."

He had no idea what was going on and didn't really care to know, but then the roommate that wore a jacket noticed him.

"Keith! What's up, my man?" _Lance._ His name suddenly popped into Keith's head. He had no idea why, but it was probably related to the fact he knew no one else who spoke in that manner. "Oh, did you just eat? The food is pretty good here. But you know what is apparently better? Hunk's food! He got approved to use the kitchen so expect some tasty dishes soon." The other one was Hunk. And apparently he was a good cook. Keith was intrigued by this information, but the feeling was overtaken by the same annoyance he had yesterday when Lance called his name out in the crowd. Keith wanted nothing more than to lay low here. His plan was to do whatever the bare minimum required, not be noticed, and be out before anyone could care about him. Lance was proving it to be a difficult task. Keith sent a glare in response, hoping to shut him down, but Lance just made a face in return.

"Try smiling for once Keith, it might stop the darkness radiating off you." Not knowing how to respond, and unhappy with the results, Keith stormed out of the cafeteria.

Keith walked aimlessly around the facility, partially because everything was uncharted territory so he was discovering new things everywhere, but also because he wouldn't know where to go if he had somewhere specific in mind. He tried getting onto a roof, but there was a sign on the door going up that read 'STAFF ONLY', and an officer was coming down the hallway so he had to change course. He decided that he could only try at night time, which really wasn't a bother because all he wanted to see were the stars.

He soon came across a large open room, with mats stacked against the wall. He assumed this room was used for self-defence classes, and was excited to see there was a lot of space for other physical activities too. He wondered whether he would be able to sneak in after hours, because while he was taking a class that could count as training, it wasn't nearly enough for him to be satisfied. He had to keep up with his regimen so he would be prepared to fight or defend himself any time.

* * *

Keith spent much of the next day without too much of a purpose as well, except he focused on the people more than the structures. He saw that the officers mainly kept to themselves, and it didn't seem like they really liked the cadets much. Some of them were very adamant about the path they were walking down and would not move out of the way for anyone else, even if it meant knocking over the other person. Others didn't interact with the students at all, Keith saw that some of them only stayed in the instructor's lounge.

The students would be the biggest issue for him, Keith decided. He doubted his classmates would ignore him like the staff, if Lance's behaviour was anything to go by. A lot of them had already formed friendships and bonds, and he saw them gathering in the one place he dared not to go—the student lounge. Some of them actually approached Keith while he was exploring the facility or eating on his own. They appeared nice enough, asking for his name and role, but Keith brushed them off because he didn't need to get to know more people than necessary.

If Keith did have to become familiar people, however, he was glad it wouldn't be hard. Every human seemed to have a unique appearance, whether it was because of their features or the fact they had altered it in some way. Keith imagined what it would be like if the Galra had absurdly coloured hair, sporting bright greens, neon pinks, and various other patterns. The thought made him chuckle, and he made a note to tell his mum about it when he got back.

After lunch, an instructor informed everyone that they could start getting their uniforms, and should do so before the end of the day. Keith was interested to see what it would look like, so he went as soon as everyone was dismissed from the cafeteria.

He walked into the room and saw outfits laid out in numerous sizes. It was very similar to the ones the officers wore, the only differences being in their coats and belt. Their belts had a silver buckle, and their coats' colours were orange and yellow instead of grey, with two golden bars on the shoulders instead of three. They also had the yellow logo Keith saw on the top of the main building on their right arm. The hats and orange insignias the officers wore weren't present on any table, so Keith assumed they weren't for students.

Keith was one of the first students to enter the room, so he didn't have to wait long at all until a staff member could serve him. He got measured, feeling uncomfortable with the close proximity, then was handed a set of the uniform to try on. It fitted very well, unsurprisingly, and he thought he didn't look half bad in it. He walked back out of the change room to show the staff member, who looked very pleased. He was told to always fold the sleeves of his coat over when wearing it, like the officers had, and that he was done now, he could go back to doing whatever after signing his name off. Keith thanked the staff member and did as he was told.

* * *

Keith spent the rest of his time after dinner in his dorm, wanting to expend as little energy as possible, so he could fully rest up before the next day. Keith was once again alone in the room, or at least that was what he thought until he walked over to his bunk and found a figure hunched over staring intently at their device. Immediately he knew it was the teammate he hadn't formally met yet, and made a move to say hello but the figure turned his back before he could do anything. Keith didn't feel hurt, and just continued about his business.

He took his bathroom supplies and headed to the shower. After underdressing, Keith saw that his Galra features had started to come back again, and the human form wouldn't hold no matter how hard he tried to shift. He guessed it meant the Quintessence he first applied had been used up, and was quite impressed with how long it lasted. He concluded that three days was probably the standard, so he wouldn't need to check on his form so often. Keith reapplied Quintessence after showering, not wanting to risk waking up in his natural form and having to try hide it from everyone.

He walked back into the main room to find that Hunk and Lance had returned from wherever they were, which meant the whole team was together for the first time since orientation day. Lance seemed to realise this at the same time as Keith, because they looked at each other for a moment before Keith broke eye contact and went over to his closet to put his things away. He personally didn't think much of it—they were roommates, they were bound to all be together at some time. Lance, on the other hand, became enthusiastic.

"Guys! We're all here! The team is whole! We have to do something together." Lance's bright smile was met with silence, and it fell.

Keith, feeling bad, started to provide an excuse when Hunk cut in and put a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Hey buddy, let's just let them be. They probably want to fully rest up before tomorrow. We can do something in the meantime, but we should try sleep early as well." Lance still looked dejected, but cheered up a bit. He thanked Hunk and then went into the bathroom to get ready for the night.

When he shut the door, Pidge looked up from his computer and surveyed the room. There was no visible reaction, and he went back to using his computer. Keith looked at Hunk but couldn't exactly read his feelings. It seemed he was disappointed but wasn't going to show it. Keith tried to explain and convey some of his guilt through his expression but didn't get a response. Defeated, Keith climbed atop his bed and got under the covers.

Although Keith couldn't fulfil Lance's request, he was glad that Lance had someone like Hunk by his side. Drifting off, he wondered whether he'd ever have someone like that too.

* * *

Earth classes sucked. More accurately, they were shit. Keith used to think the lessons he learnt on Daibaazal were boring and useless, but he would do anything to go back to that now. And to go back to his mum. He found that whenever he needed strength or motivation, his mother was what kept him going. Even as instructors droned on about numbers and theories, Keith couldn't help but think about his mother. He wondered whether she thought about him too, and if she'd gone to see the stars.

Self-defence did turn out to be Keith's favourite elective class, but even then he wasn't exactly enjoying himself. He wasn't sure why, but he assumed they would be skipping the basics and going straight to self-driven training, with the occasional corrections from and practices with the instructor. Instead, he had been lectured on safety, and various laws surrounding the subject. They started from the very bottom of the foundation, things which Keith had learnt as a _child_.

Keith couldn't complain though, no matter how uninterested he was in the exercises. Everything seemed to be new to his classmates, Lance being one of them, and he didn't want to stand out by being 'advanced'. As a result, Keith had no other choice but to stick through it, but it didn't stop him from running through the map of the facility in his mind to find potential training grounds.

On the other hand, the team was getting on quite well. Even though they didn't interact, they seemed to have silently figured out some sort of system. They didn't clash with each other, and flowed pretty well. There had been no more attempts from Lance to get them all to bond as of yet, however they had only been altogether on a few occasions. Out of all his roommates Keith shared the most classes with Lance. It didn't make classes any less bearable though, Lance seemed to have an issue with him.

The first time Keith had an inkling to this was during maths. Keith wasn't particularly good at the subject, and Lance appeared to have noticed early on. Once, after learning a new topic, the instructor asked someone to walk the class through how to answer a question. The instructor was met with silence, and threatened to pick someone randomly when Lance pointed at Keith and said he should do it. Now, at first Keith had either sat with or close to his roommates if he had classes with them. It brought him some sense of security and comfort, except in that moment all he felt was regret. They must've looked like friends or something, so the instructor accepted the nomination and motioned for Keith to go answer the question on the board.

Keith walked to the front of the room, took the stylus from his teacher's hand and just stood there. He was still having difficulty grasping the concept of Earth time and numbers—there was no way he could answer a complex problem on his own. He stared at the numbers, trying to make some sense, _any_ sense, of it but nothing came. Finally, the instructor thought there had been a long enough silence and let Keith return to his seat, starting to go through the problem without calling on another student.

Back at his desk, Keith felt humiliated. He was expecting glances from his classmates and snickers, but received none—they were all fixated on what was being written on the board. It didn't stop him from feeling embarrassed though, and it didn't stop him from feeling resent. When the instructor finished speaking and the class grew lively again, Keith shot Lance a death glare. He saw Hunk next to Lance, and shot him a glare too for good measure. Hunk flinched, and Keith backed off. He had thought Hunk was in on it, that it was something they planned together, but his reaction proved otherwise. Keith went back to his own work, concentrating hard and trying to understand the notes, although it didn't stop him from hearing what his two roommates were talking about. They either weren't trying very hard or were just not good at whispering, because it wasn't difficult for Keith to hear what they were saying.

" _Dude, what was that? It was kind of harsh."_

" _I didn't know it would turn out like that! But maybe it'll put some things into perspective for him, so it's fine."_

" _It's not, Lance."_

Lance grunted instead of replying with words, and that was that.

Occasionally Lance would still volunteer Keith to answer the instructor's questions, even if they were sitting on opposite ends of the room. More often than not Keith couldn't, and hid his burning face in shame when the instructor asked Lance to answer instead. Sometimes Lance could answer it with no problem, but other times it would catch Lance off guard—much to Keith's delight—and then the question would have to be passed onto Hunk. Hunk, as it turned out, was a genius and had little to no difficulties with maths. He also had a kind, kind heart. Sometimes back in the dorm he would find Keith struggling over the problems, grasping at his hair, and would cautiously make his way over to him. He would then cough to get Keith's attention and carefully ask if he'd like some help. Keith was hesitant to accept at first, but Hunk insisted, and he was actually a good teacher, so Keith accepted the help. It turned out really well; Hunk was a good teacher and Keith could understand his explanations. Keith was still nowhere near Hunk's level of intelligence, but he was getting somewhere.

Keith had been doing a really good job at ignoring Lance's antics and remarks directed at him. He was trying really hard to not let it get to him, but eventually, he snapped. Keith shared English with Lance, which was the other subject he was horrible at. Initially he wasn't even going to pick it, but decided that if he had to know the language he may as well learn it in a formal setting. Lance, once again, caught on early that he wasn't good at this subject. This time, however, Keith noticed Lance wasn't doing too well either.

They were discussing sentence structure and types, and the instructor quizzed them through playing a game. Keith was losing, which Lance took as the perfect opportunity to take a jab at him.

"What's wrong, Keith? Not so good at this now, are you?"

Keith wasn't sure why, but that had been the final straw. Something inside him snapped, and all he could think about were the times where Lance singled him out or made fun of him. He took one glance at the scoreboard, saw that Lance wasn't far ahead of him, and struck back.

" _I_ wasn't even born here, what excuse do you have?" As soon as the words left Keith's mouth he realised he would've just exposed himself, had anyone known any better. The class didn't bat much of an eye—the Galaxy Garrison was known for its diverse population—and started cheering.

Lance was caught off guard. Keith couldn't tell why, but guess it was because it was the first time Keith talked back, or because he just revealed a piece of personal information. As the class continued shouting at Lance to respond, he recomposed himself.

"I wasn't born here either, so there's that! I guess we both just suck!" Lance mustn't have thought through what he was going to say, otherwise he wouldn't have insulted himself. There was a suspended silence, and then the class erupted in laughter. Keith found himself laughing along, especially at Lance's horrified face, and realised it was the first time he had felt any kind of joy since coming here.

Even as the class settled down, Keith couldn't get the feeling out of his body, wanting to hold onto it for as long as possible.

* * *

Keith tried visiting the training room when he didn't have any classes, but was locked out. He almost walked past the gym entirely, with the doors shut it could barely be discerned from the walls. He poked around, trying to find a way to open the doors, thinking that it was simply closed. When nothing worked, he tried to peek through the small gap between the doors, and was startled by a cough. He stood up straight and turned around immediately, where he was face to face with Commander Iverson. The only reason Keith even knew his name was because he seemed like an important figure, and he was Keith's instructor for flight class. He looked as grumpy as ever, and it only seemed to get worse when Keith didn't say anything.

"Cadet. You are to salute when in the presence of a higher officer, or have you forgotten? Do I need to remind you?" Commander Iverson loomed over Keith with his arms crossed, staring daggers from his one eye. Keith wanted nothing more than to resist, but knew he had to comply. He slowly brought his right arm up, and when the instructor was satisfied he spoke again. "Now tell me, Keith, what are you doing here?"

Keith was taken aback and dropped his hand. Commander Iverson must've had many other students to teach and staff members to supervise, so what warranted knowing Keith's name? It must've shown in his expression, because Commander Iverson gave a low chuckle.

"Don't act so surprised Keith, how could I not know the name of my star pupil? No one has ever advanced as quickly as you, I have high hopes. Now answer the question."

Ignoring the thumping in his chest, Keith he explained his situation, seeing no harm in telling the truth.

"I was hoping to get in some extra training, sir, but the doors are shut."

"Why do you need more training? You excelled at the physical component of the tests on orientation day, and you are taking self-defence classes. Surely that is a sufficient amount of physical exercise; we don't want you getting _too_ ahead of your classmates, do we?" Commander Iverson spoke no different than usual, but Keith could hear the underlying taunt. Not wanted to fall into a trap, Keith nodded.

"You're right, sir, I didn't think it through. Thank you." Keith saluted once more and walked away before he could get a reply. He wanted to get as far away from the officer as possible. He wasn't under any visible threat, but Keith felt on edge and uneasy in the man's presence. He opted to give up getting into the gym, and instead walked outside to find somewhere to train there.

It took him a while, but Keith finally found the perfect spot. It was located somewhat close to his room, and far enough from the main building that it was in a blind spot. Conveniently, there were a few rocks nearby so if Keith thought someone might come he could hide behind them.

The first night Keith wanted to sneak out, he was almost caught by his own roommates. He wanted to go just after curfew, but just as he reached under his pillow to grab his mother's dagger Lance spoke.

"Guys, guys. We have a while until any of us will fall asleep, and we don't have any assignments due soon. It's our first free night in forever! We have to do something, let's have some fun!" Lance drew out the last syllable and waved his arms around. Keith found it funny, but he also didn't want to participate in whatever was planned. He had really been looking forward to going out and training, nothing was going to stop him.

Turning back to his bed, Keith grasped the dagger's hilt and shoved it under his jacket. He hoped he wouldn't raise suspicion, he didn't even want to think about what would happen if someone saw him with a weapon. He then jumped off his bunk and opened the door leading to the corridor. Before moving any further he figured he should excuse himself from the team in some way.

"Sorry, I'm gonna sit this one out, you guys have fun."

Keith was almost out the door when Lance made a noise somewhat resembling a shriek. "Keith! What are you doing? You can't just go! Where are you going?"

"It's fine, I just forgot something I'll be back soon." Keith walked out briskly and was enveloped in darkness when the door behind him shut. Surprisingly, no one came after him. He guessed they didn't want to take the risk. Keith pictured the map again in his mind, and visualised the path he would take. Because he stuck himself against the wall, he could hear what was happening inside the dorm room.

"Hunk! Can you believe him? He just walked out! We have curfew!"

"Yeah, the guy's pretty audacious."

"He's ridiculous is what he is. We have to go after him!"

"No, what? I am not going out this late at night Lance no no no. We'll get caught."

"We won't! But fine, I'll let him go this time. Next time though, I'm going after him."

Keith was amused by the fact Lance made it seem like he could stop him if he tried. He then decided to sneak out _after_ all his roommates had fallen asleep in the future, that way he wouldn't have to find new ways to explain himself and it would just make the whole process a lot easier.

The path to Keith's training ground wasn't a long one, but it became hard to get to due to the patrolling guards. When he stuck himself against the wall to avoid a guard coming his way, another would walk into the corridor he was hiding in. It was difficult, and Keith considered giving up a few times, but he finally made it.

When a blast of fresh air hit Keith after he made it to level ground, he welcomed it. It was great to finally get some unrestricted time to himself, outside and away from the confinements of the facility. It was cold, so Keith started moving to raise his body temperature.

After stretching and warming up, Keith took out his mother's dagger and unwrapped the tip. It seemed to be made from two kinds of material, one being thicker and forming the core of the knife while the other formed the blade. The surface was very reflective, and under the bright moonlight Keith could see himself clearly in it. He saw his purple eyes, and liked that there was still, in a way, Galra in him even though he was in human form. Keith knew nothing about the history of the blade, or what it meant, but he could tell it was important. There was no reason his mother would've kept it from him if that wasn't the case. Frankly Keith didn't know too much about his mother's history or what she did every day. A lot of things went on behind the scenes, and he knew it would be a lost cause asking for all the details.

Keith started training with the dagger, getting used to its weight in his hand, figuring out how to manoeuvre with it. He wasn't used to training with a weapon so small, back at home he used staffs and longswords. It made him realise how his body and movements were just as much of a weapon as the blade, and he liked the different fighting style. He felt the change was somewhat symbolic of this new chapter in his life.

By the end, Keith was sweating and feeling tired. A part of him wanted to keep going, but he knew he had to get some rest. He wrapped the blade back up and snuck back into the building. There seemed to be less patrols at this hour, but he still had to be careful. He decided that he should stay up one night to learn the patrolling patterns, meaning he would have more ease when navigating the halls after hours.

Keith was afraid the dorm room's lights would turn on and awaken everyone if he opened the door, but luckily nothing happened. The room had a soft, dimmed blue glow, which made it easy for Keith to get around without causing any trouble. He climbed onto his bed, tucked the dagger back under his pillow and fell asleep.

* * *

Flying classes were the highlight of Keith's school days. During the very first lesson they were told it was extremely unlikely they would do any actual flying, and most of it would be done in simulations. Aside from that, they also had to learn theory on safety and techniques. After the situation in his self-defence class, Keith expected as much from this one so he didn't feel too disappointed.

Theory didn't turn out to be as bad as he imagined, he never had formal lessons at home so there was nothing for him to compare it to. He was actually learning things he found interesting, and could usually test them out in the same lesson or the one right after.

The best part of the simulations for Keith was that they were usually set in space. In the vastness, surrounded by stars, Keith felt a sense of freedom, he was at peace. He could let go of all that was troubling him, and travel wherever he wanted, trying out his new skills. At the endpoint of the simulation, the same planet was always up ahead, never to be reached. Keith liked to think of it as Daibaazal. He couldn't get to it now, but he will build up his skills, he will get through this and he _will_ go home.

There were downsides to flight class though, the biggest being his class dynamic, the classmates themselves, and his instructor. When he first walked into the classroom and saw Commander Iverson at the front watching them he wanted to walk back out. The man reminded him of General Zarkon, and that was someone Keith _definitely_ did not want to think about here. He didn't have problems with authorial figures, growing up around them his whole life, but he found that some of them were just unexplainably irritating to him. Commander Iverson often spoke in a patronising tone, and Keith was always glad when he stopped talking.

His class was also annoying. Some of them were cocky, they believed the fighter pilot was the most important position, and that it meant they were the best of the team. Keith was finding it more and more difficult to hide his distaste when they spoke of their teammates in a condescending way. Others were just plain competitive. Fighter pilots had to fly fast jets, and needed to be able to perform various aerobatic manoeuvres. The competitive ones enjoyed trying to one up each other, even if it meant trying manoeuvres they weren't approved for yet. They usually got reprimanded and suspended for the rest of the class, but it never stopped them from trying again later.

Keith never did more than what was asked of him. He had seen what happened to the others, and he wanted to master a skill before moving onto another one. He didn't enjoy the competitive nature of the class, and tried to remain unnoticed. As usual, things didn't go to plan, and some students saw that he was fairly good at flying. A few of them tried to provoke Keith but he ignored them, always being the first to leave class and the last to enter.

Flight class was the one subject Keith usually looked forward too, but he was starting to question whether the simulations made up for everything else he had to put up with.

* * *

One night, Keith decided to forego training and instead took to the roof. He had long memorised how the patrollers moved by then, so he had no difficulty getting to the upper level and to the hatch leading up. He learnt that the door he saw when he first explored the facility was locked and only those with keycards could open them, so he had to find another way. He realised students needed to be able to get onto the roofs somehow, some of them had to learn about the solar panels, and doubted the staff members wanted them using their route all the time. He searched it up on his device, and sure enough there was a hatch built into every ceiling leading up to a roof, which would drop down a ladder when a button was pressed.

As usual, the night breeze and fresh air was much appreciated by Keith. The sky was also clear tonight, meaning he could see the stars shining brightly. He walked around the roof a bit to warm up and to find a spot where he could see the most without any obstruction. Once he did, he lay down and just stared.

He watched stars blink above him, decorating the dark sky. As he looked for constellations he thought of his mum. He knew that being an empress was demanding, and he hated how little he could do to help. Even as a princess she had already done so much more than he had as prince.

Alone in the darkness, Keith missed his mum more than ever. He closed his eyes, shutting out tears, and imagined that he was in Daibazaal. He pictured himself lying in his bedroom, listening to the sounds of the servants moving around, and thought of his mother sitting in the royal study. He had to go to dinner soon, Keith's favourite mealtime. It was the one time he could count on to spend with his mum, just the two of them, carefree without feeling the need to uphold their reputations. When he opened his eyes again, the image was gone, and there was silence. He suddenly ached for home, and the land he was on became completely foreign once more.

Keith went back to staring up at the stars, keeping his mind away from any negative thoughts, grateful that he could at least find some sense of familiarity in them.

* * *

Keith usually stayed in the dorm room on weekends. He had no real desire to do anything—he had to sneak out to do the things he liked—and he could usually get some alone time by staying in. Pidge was barely around, ever, and Hunk and Lance made some other friends so they would go hang out with them, or just go around wherever with each other. Keith sometimes found himself envying those two, but told himself to get over it. Nothing had changed since he was a child, and there was no reason as to why it should.

On this weekend, however, for whatever reason the duo decided to stay in. Now, it wasn't that Keith _purposely_ eavesdropped on Lance and Hunk's conversations, it was that they spoke pretty loudly. He believed that if what they spoke of was not something to be heard by outsiders, they should keep the volume down. Currently they were talking about their elusive roommate, which Keith found they did a lot.

"Have you noticed how Pidge always seems to get first dibs and changes in the bathroom while he's there?"

"Well, that's probably because you're still sleeping when he gets up. And he gets up _early_ , man. I don't know how he does it. Although, I used to think I got up late, and then I met you and Keith." Keith gave Hunk a look, but there was no bite behind it. They had become somewhat like acquaintances. He was still helping Keith with his maths, and he would usually give Keith a look of apology when Lance picked on him, so Keith didn't see any reason to hate him or dislike him.

"Oi! I need my sleep. But wait, Pidge looks _really_ young, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh yeah, for sure. Maybe that's even why he changes in the bathroom. Makes me wonder how he got in. I mean, we can't really judge though."

"Yeah you're right, and it's not like we could just ask. We barely see him."

"I wonder how many people are actually older or younger than us…"

"Hang on, we don't know Keith's age! Keith. How old are you?" The two boys now looked up at Keith on his bed, who turned onto his side to look back at them.

"I'm seventeen."

"As in," Lance was the one who replied but both boys looked mildly confused, "you're turning seventeen? You'll be seventeen by the end of the year?"

"Ah, no. I'll be eighteen." Keith tried to pass it off impassively, as any actual human probably would, but deep down he was proud of himself. Just a few days ago he forced himself to sit down and convert his measurements of time into Earth's measurements of time. He first confirmed that the birthday on his record was indeed correct, then calculated his age, and finally tried to figure out the time difference between Daibazaal and Earth. The last part was much harder, and he wasn't sure if the equations he got were correct.

Lance recoiled. It caused Keith to jump as well, unsure of why he reacted in such a way. And then he started blabbing.

"Eight… Eighteen? As in, adult age? You will be an adult by the end of the year? Why are you here? You're old! Oh my god, Hunk."

Hunk looked shocked initially as well, but recomposed himself immediately. "Yes, Lance?"

"Keith is an adult!" Keith didn't know what the big deal was, but he guessed it probably meant he was older than most of the people here.

"Not yet he isn't. We're the same age right now actually. We're both technically a year older than you, if you want to look at it that way. I don't see what the issue is."

"That's different! He's permanently a year older than I am, I'll be the same age as you soon. I just can't believe he's the oldest student here. He sure doesn't act like it."

"My birthday is in the tenth month, if that means anything." Keith ignored the jab Lance took at him, trying to be mature, just because he wanted to prove him wrong.

"There we go, Lance. I'm only three months younger than him and you're eight months younger. That's barely a year."

"I need to take a break. I'll be back." Lance walked out of the room, and Keith took it as an opportunity to ask Hunk for an explanation.

"I'm not too sure either honestly, but I guess he can be a bit melodramatic at times. I think, and don't you dare tell him I said this, he admires you in some sort of way—despite how he treats you. He wanted to be a fighter pilot, you know? It's the whole reason why he came here. But then you took that role from him and from what I've heard you're exceptional at physical activity too, which is all he thinks he has going for him. You represent a lot of what he aspires to be, and now add the fact that you're more than half a year older than him, I guess it's just a bit too much for him right now." Hunk let out a sigh after speaking, and Keith could tell he cared deeply for his friend.

"I'm sorry," Keith wasn't sure what to say. He didn't know Lance's self-esteem wasn't the best, and that he was probably a part of the reason why. "I didn't realise he felt that way; I could try and swap with him, if he really wanted." And it was true, Keith honestly didn't care what his position was as long as he was a pilot. If being a fighter pilot was the whole reason Lance enrolled, he probably deserved the position more.

"It's fine, you don't need to do anything," Hunk shook his head. "Lance hides his emotions really well, even I'm just mainly going off what I can deduct from what he says and the way he acts. I don't think you should treat him any differently though, I think your rivalry or whatever it is does him some good. It motivates him. So thanks for that, I guess."

"You're, uh, I guess you're welcome?"

Hunk nodded. "I think I should go find him. I'd appreciate if you didn't tell him, or anyone, about our conversation. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Keith turned to face the ceiling after he watched the door close behind Hunk. He didn't know how this new information would affect his behaviour towards Lance and whether he would be able to control it. He decided it would be best to listen to Hunk, and wondered how he was so mature despite being only a few months younger than he was.

* * *

As it turned out, Keith wouldn't have to think about if he should treat Lance differently. Within no time at all he had gone back to normal, except it seemed to get worse due to Keith's sudden popularity. Apparently word spread fast within the facility, and almost everyone knew about Keith's age now. He honestly still had no clue why it was so fascinating to some students, and didn't know how to react when they approached him.

With most of them, they asked basic questions about himself and he could awkwardly try to carry on a bit of a conversation until it had been silent too long for the other to handle, and they'd walk off. Some of the others, contrastingly, were persistent. They kept talking to him, or at him, no matter how hard he tried to cut off the conversation. A few of them would get in his way, blocking the board when he was trying to copy down notes or stopping him from getting out of his seat and to his next class, whether it was on purpose on not.

Keith put up with it the first few times, but it started to get on his nerves so he would mutter a "can you please just let me go?" and push past them.

Along with his age, Keith's classmates found another thing that caused Keith's popularity to boost even more. His purple eyes. He found a lot of people would just stare at him, or watch him. It was creepy, but it wasn't like he could do much about it. He found Lance watching him too, but in a different way. He was glaring. Sometimes Keith would notice Lance sitting at his desk further away when he was being bombarded with questions, and the younger boy didn't look pleased. He pouted and seemed to mutter to himself angrily. Once Keith's eyes became a topic of debate during class and Lance yelled out that he bet Keith wore contacts. That only fuelled the argument more, causing Keith to shrink away, trying his best to stay out of it, even though it was about him.

Over the week the excitement simmered down; Keith wasn't bothered as much anymore, but he had left an impression. He would sometimes hear others talk about him, whether it was because he needed to reapply Quintessence soon so his Galra hearing was returning, or if it was because no one around here seemed to know how to talk at a low volume.

There were usually two sides to everything, and Keith's new reputation was no exception. On the one hand, there were students who thought his coldness and distance from everyone else made him very mysterious, increasing his coolness. He would see people's heads turn as he walked down the hallway, whispering that they wanted to get to know him and wondering if his behaviour was just an act. On the other hand, they were students who started viewing Keith more negatively without actually knowing anything about him. Because he refused to get involved and interact with anyone in general and also on the matter, they thought he was self-conceited. Some of them brought in the argument of his age. They said that he was only excelling because he stayed back a year or started school late and was older than everyone else. They said that he wanted to be alone because he thought he was better than everyone else and no one was worthy.

They said many things, none of which were true, but Keith put up with them anyway. He put up with them because he knew it was what his mother would've done, and would've wanted him to do. He was going to be emperor one day, and he needed to know how to behave when someone badmouthed him. Every time someone insulted him, Keith kept it to himself.

" _Now, can you tell me why you are angry?" Keith had been sent to his mother's study after getting into a fight, and now he was fighting with his mum._

" _They said you were a bad empress! That we shouldn't even be royals, that we should be_ dead _!" Keith's mother drew back, visibly shocked. It wasn't a secret there were those who opposed the monarchy, but she hadn't expected them to say such horrible things to her son—a child._

" _Aw, honey. It's great that you wanted to stand up for me but you shouldn't be saying mean things or hurting others."_

" _But they were hurting_ me _! Shouldn't I fight back?"_

" _Of course, you should always fight for what you believe is right. But you also need to know when to keep it to yourself. We're different to others, Keith, what we say can have big implications. Do you want to know what I do when I want to talk back?" Keith nodded, and his mum was glad he was starting to calm down._

" _I say it all to them in my head. If no one else hears it, I can't get in trouble, right? This way, I can say even the most_ meanest _things, and no one will know." She said it in a cheeky tone and tickled Keith until he laughed. "Try it out next time, okay?"_

Keith had used that tactic ever since. He may seem calm and collected to others, but inside his mind he could be even more brutal than they were. Usually his insults weren't directed back at them, however. They were directed at the one who put him in this position. If it weren't for General Zarkon, Keith wouldn't have to put up with all of this. If he stayed at Daibazaal, he thought to himself, he wouldn't be in this situation. Once he made it back home, he would let Zarkon know of his thoughts, and he _would_ make Zarkon pay.

* * *

Keith was currently taking break from training. It had become his outlet for releasing anger, so it wasn't unusual that he was pushing himself, but he still took breaks to ensure he wouldn't get hurt.

He sat down on a nearby rock, inspecting the knife and turning it over and over again. He picked at the wrapping between the blade and hilt, and suddenly wondered why he had never taken it off. He never unravelled the hilt because he didn't want to damage it, but there was no reason for him not unwrap anything else. As he slowly unwound the wrapping, he talked to his mum.

"So, mum. I'm really curious about this dagger, I have to say. I've never seen it before, and I know you have to keep some things confidential, but you and I both know I've been snooping before. How did I not find this? Also, if it's so important, are you sure you should've given it to me? Don't you remember how—" Keith cut himself off when he was hit with a bright light. Turning his back to the facility, afraid the light would alert someone, he took a closer look.

The glowing came from an insignia which was on a stone embedded between two pieces of decoration made of the same material as the core of the blade. Keith didn't know what the insignia was representative of but it felt strangely familiar. His eyes then widened in shock when he realised it resembled Zarkon's emblem, the one shown everywhere at home, but cut in half straight down the middle. It filled him with a strange feeling, like he was doing something treacherous. A part of him wanted to just forget he ever saw the insignia, and quickly went to cover it up.

Keith retrieved the wrapping from the ground and had just brought it close to the blade when he ceased all movements. The blade was moving. Or rather, it was shifting. Frozen in terror, Keith could do nothing but watch as it changed in his hand.

When it was done, denoted by the sudden lack of brightness around, the plain dagger was now a purple sword. The hilt remained somewhat the same, but lengthened. The glowing insignia was still there as well, but the blade was completely different. It was now single-edged, longer, and curved. Once again it was made of two materials, but they were different to the ones that made up the dagger. The blade also seemed to be split into two sections, one that was more straight-edged and the other which was more curved. The tip of the blade was thinner than the rest, due to a dip at the beginning of the curved section. The blunt end of the sabre had a long strip running along it, glowing the same purple as the insignia.

Completely flabbergasted, Keith released his hand and dropped the sword in shock, heart rate picking up. Keith had no clue how he could take it back with him into the facility, but that problem was solved when the sword promptly reverted back to a knife. In a rush, Keith picked up the dagger and immediately started wrapping it up, not wanting to think about the implications of what just happened.

Keith then sprinted back to his room as silently as he could, breathing heavily, and ungracefully got into his bed. He tucked the knife under his pillow and shut his eyes tightly, left with only hearing and feeling the pounding in his chest. He wanted nothing more than for the sensation to stop. Over his own heartbeat, he thought he heard someone shuffling, and then a whisper of his name. He ignored it though, there were too many other things occupying his mind.

Somehow, he fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N:** hi y'all, how've you been? lmao so I've had writer's block/a lot of work since my last update so unfortunately I haven't finished the next chapter (I've barely touched it ;u;). On a more positive note, I'm on holidays now which hopefully means I can do a lot more writing. next chapter will (hopefully) be up within a month, depending on responses and how much I can do. as always, thanks for reading :)


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** switching it up a bit.

 **note:** this chapter features insecurity, which will probably appear again in upcoming chapters.

enjoy!

* * *

Keith was a coward at times. He knew it; he wasn't afraid to admit it. He believed it was important to know one's flaws. Currently, he was avoiding his mother's dagger, as well as training. He concluded that the knife probably expanded into a sword because the insignia was showing, so everything would be fine so long as he kept it wrapped. He came to this conclusion immediately, but was still too afraid to go back out and train—even without the dagger.

Instead, he was making up for the lack of training by putting all his effort into his self-defence class. He no longer cared about staying on the same level as the rest of his classmates, unleashing his full power. He probably didn't give out a neutral image anymore either, classmates began avoiding him in the class as well as outside class. Occasionally he forgot which exercises he was supposed to be going through and his body naturally moved through his personal training regimen. The instructor noticed and called out Keith's name, snapping him out of autopilot.

"This is a self-defence class, Keith, not a _fighting_ class." The instructor said it in a joking tone, causing some of his classmates to laugh, but it made him feel a bit guilty. He went back to doing what he was supposed to be doing, and toned down a bit. He didn't care who or how much people disliked him, or why, but he did not want to be someone others were afraid of.

* * *

As the days went by Keith could feel himself become more frustrated and quicker to anger. He had many questions, none of which could be answered.

He wanted to know what the insignia meant and stood for; why his mother was hiding things from him; why she left something so important with him. He wanted to express his fury to someone, but there was no one he could talk to. He had no choice but to keep it all bottled inside. The feeling of resentment was also bubbling up. He often cursed at Zarkon for forcing him to go through this "bullcrap" situation, using words he learned from those around him.

The negative emotions were causing Keith to turn back on any progress he had made. He must've appeared even more unapproachable than before, there used to be a few students who would sometimes strike up a small conversation with him, but now they avoided his gaze. He could hear more people gossiping about him as well, and their speculations drifted further and further from the truth. At first Keith minded, he didn't want to have such a bad image, but then he realised he couldn't care less about his reputation so long as he didn't appear like Zarkon, and as long as he wasn't going to get expelled. He was probably never going to see these people again, so there was no point in being friendly.

It was yet to be confirmed, but Keith noticed that he had been using up Quintessence a lot faster than he had previously. He was reapplying almost every day now, and was steadily making his way through the vials. There was still a lot left so he wasn't all that concerned, however if this pattern continued he knew he could soon be in a lot of trouble.

Keith was no longer going outside to train, however he was still sneaking out. The nights he would've spent training, he spent on the roof instead. While the stars couldn't completely rid Keith of his anger and frustration, it helped suppress them for a bit. He wasn't imagining himself being on Daibazaal anymore, he didn't really want to think of his mother. For the first time, Keith didn't feel any appeal towards being at home. Furthermore, Earth was still too foreign for him, so he was truly alone.

* * *

Lance was ecstatic when Hunk got cleared to use the cafeteria kitchen. The two boys hit it off immediately the moment they met, and Lance couldn't be more happy. When sharing things about themselves, Hunk mentioned he enjoyed making food. Well, he then corrected himself and said he enjoyed eating the food he made more, but the process was nice too. That got Lance excited, and said he would love to try one of his dishes some day. Until they saw the cafeteria, Lance didn't think that day would come so soon.

"Hunk, come on! There's no one there, we can ask them now." Lance was trying to get Hunk to ask whether he could use the kitchen when the staff members didn't need it, but the other boy was hesitant. He was the one who pondered about it, and Lance wanted to make it a reality for him. Hunk wasn't a risk taker, which is why he just wanted to leave after eating, but that was okay because Lance was. Sometimes he liked the thrill, that leap of faith, and since this was for Hunk and not himself, his confidence was at a higher level than usual. When Hunk didn't reply for the nth time, Lance took initiative and walked right up to the staff member who served them food earlier. Hunk ran after him, telling him to stop, but immediately grew silent when Lance started talking.

"Hi! We're new students here, but I guess you know that already. I was just wondering, my friend over here," Hunk shrunk even further into himself and Lance was impressed, "is a great cook, and he wanted to know if he could use the kitchen some time. When you guys aren't busy, of course, we don't want to inconvenience you."

The staff member seemed to survey them, with a look that caused even Lance to be a bit nervous. After a few moments of silence, they got a reply.

"No. Why should we let you use our kitchen? Do you need to make meals every day for numerous students? Do you pay for all the materials and ingredients? I didn't think so." The staff member then turned around but Lance wasn't going to let the conversation end there.

"You don't pay for everything either though!" Lance's slight outburst caused the staff member to turn back around and glare at him, but he didn't back down. "You're getting paid to make food for us, aren't you? And judging by the amount of money we need to pay every school year I doubt they'd make you guys pay out-of-pocket for these things. I'm sure you get excess material, in case of emergencies or something, so could you not spare some of that for my friend? He won't even be using a lot. His servings will probably be for two people, four tops." Lance got closer and closer to the staff member as he spoke, until he reached the 'staff only' point.

The staff member sighed and resigned. "I'm going to assume you won't back down until I say yes anyways, so fine. Your friend can use the kitchen. I'll have to speak to my supervisor about it, figure out various conditions and when you'll be able to use the kitchen, so check up with me every now and then."

Hunk appeared dissatisfied with the response, and found the courage to speak for the first time during this interaction. "You have to speak with your supervisor? Are you sure they'll say yes? Can you guarantee that they'll allow it? Tell me you'll grant us permission." Hunk probably didn't realise it, but he had stepped over the point where students were allowed and the staff member seemed alarmed, as did Lance.

"Yes, fine", the staff member rushed, "we will grant you permission to use the kitchen. Just leave, first, please." Hunk brightened up immediately and Lance pulled him away so they wouldn't get in trouble.

"Thanks, Lance." Hunk said when they turned around. "Why did you say I was a good cook though? You haven't tried my food yet."

"I don't doubt your skills." Lance beamed and made finger guns at the other boy. They continued making their way to the exit, and then Lance spotted Keith. Lance found Keith interesting, and if he was to be their main pilot, they had to be able to work as a team.

"Keith! What's up, my man? Oh, did you just eat?" Lance asked, eyeing the snacks in Keith's hand. "The food is pretty good here. But you know what is apparently better? Hunk's food! He got approved to use the kitchen so expect some tasty dishes soon." Lance didn't mean to decide who Hunk was going to share his food with, but decided that he would give Keith a part of his portion if Hunk didn't. Keith didn't reply and glared in response, causing Lance to retaliate the same way. Lance had tried to be friendly, but if this was the game Keith wanted to play, then he would play it.

"Try smiling for once Keith," Lance pointed at himself grinning to show an example, "it might stop the darkness radiating off you." He was exaggerating of course, but it was somewhat close to the truth. Of all the people Lance had met and seen so far, Keith was by far the least approachable. Once again Keith didn't respond and this time he just walked off. Lance made no effort to stop him or anything, thinking of it as a win. _Lance one, Keith zero._

* * *

Hunk was so very glad Lance got him permission to use the kitchen. He remembered how he had thanked the boy continuously, and the reply he got every time.

" _There's no need to keep thanking me, big guy. You wanted to make food, I wanted to taste the food you made. It's a win-win situation! Food is all the payment I need."_

Cooking always brought Hunk relief, and he was glad he could find some way to relax at the Galaxy Garrison. He was excited to come here, knowing it would be stressful, but it was still more than he had imagined. Being able to cook relieved a lot of that stress. He could take his mind off things and just be in the zone.

Currently he was finishing the last batch of cookies, and listening to what Lance was saying. He was glad his new friend was a talker, because he was often too nervous to start up a conversation with anyone new. Even though they only met and became friends recently, Hunk couldn't imagine what it would be like without Lance by his side.

"Our roommates are so weird, Hunk, have you noticed? Firstly we have Keith, who's just broody all the time and doesn't seem to want to be around people at all. And then we have Pidge, who, like, I don't know, I can't even say anything because he's away all the time! What could he be doing that means he's never in the dorm? Ugh, I miss my family. I told you a bit about them, right? They're really special, you know, I wish I could see them soon. Back to Keith though—he's so annoying! Why does he always want to fight me, what have I ever done to him? I can't believe he's the fighter pilot, what happens if he never talks to us, how will we be a team? Honestly, I'm just glad I'm still a pilot though, even if it's cargo class. I'm so excited to fly, it's always been my dream, you know? It would be so nice to just—mmh, Hunk, these are really good cookies!"

Hunk smiled at his friend, who was eating one cookie after another. "I'm glad you like them."

"Yeah, definitely no regrets in asking that staff member to let you use the kitchen. Also, why do they always seem so rude? I know it's their job but, like, they're getting paid and stuff. Oh, you know who else is rude? Keith. Maybe he's the way he is because he thinks he's better than everyone else, just because he's older. I still can't believe that, by the way. It's just annoying because it feels like home again. Some of my siblings don't like me, or least they didn't when I was younger. It's not like I chose to be the youngest." Lance groaned and put his head down against the counter.

Hunk had done some analysing of everything Lance had said about Keith, and decided to be upfront about his conclusions, thinking that maybe it could help them get closer. Personally, he didn't think Keith was all that bad. He certainly wasn't perfect, Hunk often helped Keith with his maths work.

"That sucks about your family, man. It'll get better with age though, yeah? But anyways, with Keith, are you sure it's not just jealousy? I mean, he's been getting a lot more attention, and you said he was weirdly exceptional at the physical stuff. He's a pretty nice guy, if you actually have a decent conversation with him. Maybe things are just not living up to what you expected them to be, and you're taking it out on him." Hunk didn't want to be harsh, but he wanted Lance to see from his point of view.

"No way! Why would I, Lance, be jealous of a mullet head like Keith? It's okay that you're playing devil's advocate but nah, not true." Lance now had his hands crossed and was pouting.

Hunk chuckled to himself and wondered why he thought things would go as planned. "Well if it helps you sleep at night, I think he hates the attention he's getting." Hunk often saw Keith being held up by their classmates, and felt sorry for the guy. He didn't really seem like the outgoing type, so to have many people bombard you must've been overwhelming.

"Is it alright if we stop talking about Keith now? All of this is starting to give me a headache," Lance groaned again but then sat up immediately and rested his chin on his hands. "Tell me about your family!"

And Hunk did.

* * *

"Hunk. Let's investigate our roommates. We're going to find out what's going on, once and for all." Lance had just walked out the shower, still towelling his hair.

"Uh, what?" Hunk looked up from where he was sitting with a confused expression, eyeing Lance.

"I thought about it, and there's no way we'll pass if we continue being the way we are now. I didn't come all the way here just to flunk out after one semester. I want us all to pass, even if it means I need to be civil with Keith. We can find out what's bothering them and help them if they need." Lance was being serious. Sure, not everything was living up to his dreams, but he was willing to make some sacrifices in order to come close to it. He just got into the Galaxy Garrison, and he wasn't about to let poor teamwork set him back out.

"Okay, just word it a bit better next time, Lance." Hunk was still watching Lance, as if he was hiding something. Lance shrugged, like he had no clue what Hunk was getting at. And he didn't… Or, well, maybe he did… Except that didn't matter because the overall intention was still there.

"Don't really know what you mean by that," Lance thought he worded everything perfectly, "but okay. First, we'll try find out about Keith—he's home a lot more. Not now though. Now is sleep time." Lance climbed into bed after completely drying his hair, but found himself buzzing with anticipation, making it hard to fall asleep.

Keith shared a lot of classes with Lance and Hunk, so it was easy to gauge his behaviour. He often sat at the very edges of the classroom, and worked alone even if the teacher allowed otherwise. Ever since the whole fiasco with his age and eye colour, he retreated even more into himself. Lance also noticed that he started acting differently in their self-defence class. Sometimes he would appear quite aggressive, like he was attacking instead of defending—or maybe he was, Lance couldn't tell the difference. It probably should've made Lance want to stay away but all he felt in those moments were sympathy. He wanted to know why Keith was projecting his emotions like that, what he was hiding.

Lance forgot about those feelings every time he actually interacted with Keith. He didn't know why, but something about the older boy always got him riled up. He felt the need to just be better, as if making up for the fact that he was only the cargo pilot.

When he first found his name listed second in the table, his heart dropped. His whole dream was to come to the Galaxy Garrison and be a fighter pilot, leading his team on explorations. Now, he wouldn't actually get to fly unless there was an emergency, and his role was reduced to being the right-hand man. He doubted he could even be that, considering how _Keith_ was the one in charge. Even if the only way Keith listened to Hunk and Pidge was out of obligation, Lance didn't believe he was included. There was nothing saying that the fighter pilot _had_ to take the cargo pilot's words into consideration, so what was the point? Lance was nothing but a backup, the fourth wheel. Still, he wasn't just about to give up. Even if he was just an extra, he would make sure that he passed, that _everyone_ passed.

* * *

Nothing about Keith seemed to be out of the ordinary. He was just broody and isolated himself a lot. Which was okay, except for the fact that he was enrolled in a program which required teamwork in order to pass. Lance had sometimes heard him sneaking out after their curfew as well, so there was that too.

Lance could not think of what anyone could do after hours that was worth the risk of getting caught. Unless… There was no chance Keith was sneaking out to meet someone, was there? Lance shook the thought away has soon as it entered his mind, berating himself for thinking something so outlandish. He had seen how Keith interacted, or how he didn't interact, with those around him. There was no way he could've gotten close to someone without Lance, or Hunk, noticing. But even then, Lance found himself watching Keith a bit more closely, as well as those around him.

What probably annoyed Lance the most about Keith, or what fuelled the rivalry, was Keith's physical ability. Lance himself was quite good at sport and such, it was what he was best at; but Keith? Keith was _insane_. He made everything look easy and barely broke a sweat even when completing the most straining exercises. He, unsurprisingly, kept to himself during their self-defence class, and the distance between him and the other classmates seemed to be at an all-time high recently, both physically and in ability. Lance and Keith were basically on par before; they completed the set exercises at the same time, and both got little to no corrections. Recently, though? Keith was going all out. He was completing exercises in half the time he used to, although he was receiving more corrections from their instructor. Lance had no clue where this change came from. He couldn't tell whether Keith was holding back before, or whether he was picking up the skillset a lot easier than Lance was. It didn't _really_ matter to Lance, whichever it was, it just meant that he had to catch up.

* * *

Lance was overexerting himself. He could barely move without his muscles hurting, and had to spend a lot more time stretching after every session. Their first allocated break had arrived, which meant there were a lot less people in the Garrison, but it also meant that most of the facilities were open to those who remained.

Hunk had gone home, saying the kitchen here was not too shabby, but came nothing close to what he had at home. He said he "needed to let off some steam, _relax_ , and eat homemade food for a while." One of his family members' birthday was during the break too, so he was also going back to visit them and celebrate.

Pidge… had possibly gone home too? It was difficult to tell because all his things were still here, but Lance hadn't seen even a glimpse of him since break started. _Man_ , Lance had thought to himself, _who would've thought I'd end up in a team with someone who's barely ever here and someone else who can't get along with anyone?_

Those were the only two members absent, which meant Keith and Lance remained. Lance didn't know why Keith stayed behind, but he also didn't really care to find out. He was too busy with his own motivations. At the start of the school year there were multiple times Lance had longed for home, whether it was because things weren't shaping out to be like he hoped, or just because he missed it. Now, when the applications for leave were actually posted online, Lance barely glanced at it. He wanted to stay because it was the perfect opportunity for him to catch up, he _needed_ the extra time. This didn't stop him from feeling guilty though, as he promised his family he would go back and visit them as soon as he could. He tried to justify it, telling himself it was difficult for his parents to sustain a large family, so it would lessen the burden if they didn't need to take care of him as well for a few extra days. Besides, the next break would come before they knew it—it wasn't like he would never see them again.

And so Lance threw himself into work. He visited the training room every day and occasionally went to the resource centre. He didn't feel the need to catch up academically; he certainly wasn't the worst in his class and he would do well enough so long as he put in the effort. No, what he wanted more than anything was to be at the highest level for physical ability. The same level as Keith.

It was irritating to see that Keith was training every day as well, and for longer than Lance. They seemed to be the only ones who frequented the room, so there was a silent agreement as to who got which side of the room, and anyone else who came could just go in between. In between usually meant Lance's side, because Keith was not the type to give out a friendly and welcoming image. Lance didn't mind that much, he gained a sparring partner that way.

One-time Lance was on a drink break, and found his eyes wandering to Keith. He watched as the older boy moved, and it was _captivating_. He moved as if the staff was an extension of himself, and like a body of water flowing in a river. Behind all that though, when Lance snapped himself out of the daze he saw something else. He could see annoyance, and anger, and bitterness. He could see it in Keith's facial expressions, in how he struck at the air. Lance realised Keith may be keeping some feelings bottled up, and this may be causing the drift between him and everyone else. He decided, that for the better of the team, he should talk to Keith and figure out what was wrong.

* * *

Talking to Keith was not easy. The guy was elusive, and he moved fast, making it hard to follow. The only chances Lance had were during mealtimes and back at their dorm. Keith usually sat alone in the cafeteria, and Lance didn't feel like sitting with any of his new friends without Hunk by his side, so he saw no harm in sitting across Keith.

It wasn't… awkward, per se, but there seemed to be tension in the air. Keith looked up the first time Lance plotted his food in front of him, with a somewhat amused expression on his face. He grunted out a "what are you doing here?" to which Lance answered, cheerily, that he wanted to keep him company. Keith then made a noise resembling a snort and went back to his food, not looking up once. Once he finished, he walked away without sparing Lance a glance. Although Lance tried not to, he took offence to it. He did try and put himself in Keith's shoes to imagine how he would react, to see if it would help him understand. It didn't. Lance reckoned he would've still been civil, and anger flared inside him again. He pushed it aside, telling himself this was bigger than himself, it was for the team, so it meant he had to try harder.

Lance continued sitting with Keith at each mealtime, and usually failed to get the other boy to join in on conversation. When Lance realised it would be a lost cause, he switched to a different tactic. Instead of trying to get Keith to talk to him, he just talked to himself for Keith to listen. He thought that maybe if Keith could see he was like any other male their age, he would open up a bit. And even if Keith didn't listen, it was a way for Lance to get his thoughts out, and it was nicer talking at someone than talking to himself.

At first it still felt weird, but once he got going he found it difficult to stop. He started talking about how he was finding the Garrison, his various classes, his anticipations for what was to come—the generic stuff. Soon enough, however, he was talking about his friendship with Hunk, what they had done, and things Keith could potentially join in on too. Lance wasn't really watching Keith for a reaction as he talked, but sometimes he would catch his eye and after Keith turned away, he couldn't stop looking. A scowl usually returned to Keith's face when he went back to his food, but just before that, there was always a split second of something else. Something soft, almost like he was entranced. Lance wasn't sure whether it was him or the stories that caused it, but he was glad Keith let his walls down, even just for a bit.

Since communicating with Keith while eating was a no-go, Lance decided to talk to him when they were both in their dorm. This usually occurred after dinner and before lights out, since they were both busy with other things during the day. It was easier for Keith to shut Lance out in the dorm, he could hide in the bathroom or hide under his covers, but it was also a much more informal environment.

Lance found that he could actually get a word or two out of Keith when they were alone in their room, even if it came out cold and shut down further interactions. He decided to try and build up to a conversation, slowly asking more, and asking more personal things. He asked about Keith's emotions one time, but said it in a joking tone so he could feel more comfortable. It, unfortunately, did not work out.

"Hey, Keith, I was just wondering. What's up? Especially recently, you've been a lot more moody and get angry easily. Have my remarks been too good for you?"

Keith didn't reply but he did look at Lance and narrow his eyes at him.

"Seriously, Keith, I'll back down if you want. Give you some time to think of comebacks, you know?"

This time, Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. When his eyes opened, Lance found himself frozen, staring into striking violet.

"Look, Lance. You want to know what's going on? Fine. I _really_ miss home, okay?" Keith then looked away and muttered something under his breath about a 'situation being real shitty there'. He faced Lance again, and forced out "are you happy now? I've told you what you wanted, so can you please just leave me alone for a while." The boy then climbed atop his bed, got under his covers and faced the wall.

Lance fell silent, shocked. Keith's words struck him in a weird way, and suddenly he was reminded of his own home, and how he missed it. He hadn't seen his home, his _real_ home in what felt like forever, having moved here at a young age. A wave of guilt also washed over him, he felt horrible for prodding at Keith and riling him up when he was going through a tough time. He knew what it was like to be homesick, as well as the other feelings and emotions that come with. He resolved to back off and leave Keith alone, at least for a while, like he had said. Even if it wasn't intentional, when Lance heard the silent promise from Keith that they would interact and talk again, it filled Lance with warmth. He was glad Keith was opening up to him.

* * *

For the rest of the break, Lance let Keith be as he had asked, and they focused on their own endeavours. Even though he didn't try talk to the other boy, Lance still sat with Keith at the cafeteria because he liked the comfortable silence that fell between them. They continued that way, usually being in each other's presence but not actually talking, until everyone else returned.

Lance enveloped Hunk in a hug when he came back. Even though he wasn't gone for long, and although they had only met each other this year, Lance felt empty without the larger boy by his side. They exchanged stories, Lance had some of the _delicious_ food Hunk brought back, then Lance asked for a favour.

"Mmh? What kind of request?" Hunk words were obscured by the food in his mouth, but Lance understood what he said.

"Remember those amazing cookies you made when you first used the kitchen?" Lance treaded carefully, not wanting to overstep his boundaries. "Is it alright if you bake some, then give it to Keith?"

Hunk was listening cautiously, but immediately smiled when Lance finished speaking. "Yeah, of course! No sweat; I'll bake some extra too so we can have some. Can I ask why?"

At that, Lance paused. While he did trust Hunk with his entire being, he doubted Keith did, so he decided to play it safe. "Oh, nothing that important. Just thought he should have a taste of your food. Also, when you give it to him, can you not tell him it's from me? Well isn't from me, it's from _you_ , you made the food. But you know, like—"

"I won't tell him you asked me to do it, got it." Hunk went back to his food and the topic was dropped. Lance continued eating as well, but felt unsettled. He didn't want to be lying to Hunk and felt guilty about it, even though he knew there was no other way. He decided that if something like this occurred again, Lance wouldn't be able to always hide things from Hunk. Currently, Hunk meant a lot more to Lance than Keith did.

* * *

Lance was sitting in the resource centre on his device, having disregarded his work. Some time passed and soon Hunk came and sat down in front of him, with an unreadable expression on his face. Lance lowered his device and looked at Hunk, waiting for him to speak.

"So… I gave Keith the cookies," Hunk began slowly, watching Lance. Lance suddenly felt exposed and could feel his face start to heat up. "I was helping him with maths, and just before I left I placed the box in front of him. He looked surprised and was really cautious when opening the lid. Maybe he doesn't know or hasn't had a cookie before? That would be weird though. Anyways, he didn't touch them but when I walked out the door I looked back, just to check on him. Before the door completely closed I saw his hand reach out to grab a cookie. Mission accomplished, I guess you could say."

"Thank you, Hunk!" Lance stood and threw his arms up. A few curious looks were raised, as well as some angry ones, and Lance sat back down immediately. He lowered his voice, "seriously, thanks. I owe you one."

"Nah, this was no biggie. Are you just about done here? We can head out and eat the remainder of what I made Keith." Hunk then waved a plastic bag of cookies in front of Lance's face, as if he needed any persuasion.

"I'm all set. Let's go!" Lance grabbed his things and headed to the student lounge with Hunk. Lance found somewhere private to sit and began munching on the food. As he bit into his second cookie, he updated the status of their 'investigation'.

"Without revealing too much, I think I can say that Keith is going through a hard time right now, so this probably concludes this stage of the investigation. We can get to know him later… Moving onto our next suspect!"

* * *

Hunk could tell Pidge was a smart guy. He usually received top scores for tests, and never had to ask the teacher to clarify anything. Hunk shared the most classes with Pidge out of all his teammates, so Lance decided he should be the one to try talk to Pidge. One of the few classes Lance shared with him was self-defence, but he also shared that with Keith, and he deemed that beating Keith was more important than finding out what was going on with Pidge.

"I'm more like Keith, you're more like Pidge. It's as simple as that. Besides, I spent the entire break trying to figure Keith out. It's your turn now." Hunk refrained from telling Lance this was solely his idea, and that he was using Keith as an excuse to get out of interacting with Pidge.

Hunk couldn't blame the guy though, it was _hard_ trying to get a hold of Pidge. Maybe his smartness was contributing to his evasiveness, but either way Hunk couldn't get Pidge to mutter even a single word to him. Hunk began sitting next to Pidge during classes, but he never even raised his head at the change in arrangements. Hunk didn't let that deter him, so he tried to start a conversation with Pidge when they were left to work in their own time, however even then the smaller boy would not look up. He was so focused on his work Hunk could not bring himself to interrupt his concentration.

Since he could not talk to Pidge during class, Hunk tried to find him outside of class but that proved to be just as difficult of a task. For some unexplainable reason Pidge never seemed to be around, and when he was it was extremely difficult to follow him. Back in the dorm Pidge would hide himself in the furthest corner on his bed, constantly on his device, and it would've been considered an intrusion of personal space if anyone tried to get close.

After this continued on Hunk and Lance sat down for a discussion. Following multiple fails, Hunk now felt invested in this 'investigation', he wanted to know what was up too.

"I mean, I just don't get it! Even Keith, considering who he is, interacts with us! I help him with maths all the time, for crying out loud. He's getting pretty good by the way, you better watch out for him, Lance." Hunk smirked, knowing it would get Lance riled up.

"Oh, don't you dare. You know I'm trying to catch up to him! Should we just give up? Is that it? Will our team just remain broken?" Lance suddenly looked dejected, and all Hunk wanted was to cheer him up.

"Let's not give up yet; I'm sure our chance will come."

* * *

The chance showed up in the form of a roommate cursing somewhat loudly and waking Hunk up. Hunk groaned and turned onto his other side to find Pidge hopping on one foot out of the door. It took a moment for Hunk to realise what was happening, but as soon as he did he jumped out of his bed and onto Lance.

It wasn't easy getting Lance to wake up, he was a heavy sleeper, and Hunk didn't have any experience in the field. When Lance finally opened his eyes, he looked angry.

"Hunk," he whisper yelled, "what are you doing? It's the middle of the night!"

"I know, but get this, I just saw Pidge sneak out. This is our opportunity to see what he's doing!"

Lance immediately sat up, almost hitting his head on the roof, and leapt out of bed. The boys threw on their clothes and hastily made their way to the door. Just before they walked out, Hunk hesitated.

"We shouldn't be doing this. This is a bad idea, it's past curfew, we're going to get caught!"

"Oh, come on. Keith and Pidge do it all the time. Both of them are out right now!" Lance was right, Hunk looked back to find every bed in the room empty. Their two other teammates didn't even bother pretending they were still here, leaving their covers strewn over the bed.

Hunk relented, deciding that if those two have been sneaking out all year and not getting caught, he could do it for one night.

Lance led the way, plastering himself against walls, taking sharp turns. Hunk tried his best to follow, but found himself faltering behind from uncertainty. Now, their backs were against the wall of the teacher's lounge, and Hunk was seriously regretting his actions. He told Lance this as he looked into the window at their instructors, and Lance replied asking where his sense of adventure was, he was in a space _exploration_ program. Lance then started crawling across the ground below the windows, and Hunk had no choice but to follow suit.

…Which led to Hunk hiding in a bin. It was ridiculous, and Hunk told Lance it was ridiculous, but the boy just wouldn't listen. He said that this was the opportunity of a lifetime, that this was the beginning of their vigilante careers. Hunk tried to tell Lance that he wasn't using the word in the right context, but Lance had already jumped into a bin. A patrol walked past, and after the coast was clear, they got back out. They stood in the middle of the hallway, lost.

"Hunk, where'd Pidge go? Were you watching?"

"I thought you were watching, I was trying not to freak out in front of the patrol!"

The two boys looked at each other for some time, then sighed and hung their heads. They heard more patrollers coming around the corner, and decided to get back to their dorm before they could be spotted.

Back in their beds, they both lay on their backs, looking up. They were finding it difficult to fall asleep right away, there was still a sense of adrenaline rushing through them, resulting from a few close calls when going back to the dorm.

Hunk had just shut his eyes and was starting to drift off when he heard Lance shuffling above him.

Lance, after pondering, turned himself around onto his stomach and stuck his head out the side of his bed so he was looking at Hunk.

"Looks like it's just you and me, buddy."

* * *

 **A/N:** okay so... season four, amirite?

anyways, my holiday was a lot more work-filled than anticipated, so I didn't get much writing done at all. I'm also going to be quite busy with work this school term, so I may not be able to update until December. (I'll still try get in some work during school or whenever I can, but it could be a while, folks.) sorry about that!

lastly, come talk to me on tumblr fandomtravellers if ya want.

 **edit:** I got a review a few days ago and forgot to add my reply! (sorry if this causes inconveniences). thanks for the review, **Guest**! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. I try to stick to canon information as much as I can, but since this is canon divergence and an alternate universe, some things will be different :))


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** please be aware this chapter features overthinking

* * *

The end of the semester was steadily approaching, which meant practice simulations had begun. The team, if one could even call it that, really did not work well together. Two of them were basically strangers to each other and everyone else, Hunk often got motion sick, and Lance was always trying to pick a fight with Keith. Although Lance was not in control of their vehicle, it didn't stop him from backseat driving.

" _Keith, wh—what are you doing? Make a hard left! You're going to—" The vehicle was shaking heavily and, despite the fact he was wearing a seatbelt, Lance looked like he was trying really hard to not be flung across it. Behind them, Hunk began making retching noises, and warned that they would be 'wiping beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing' if the motion didn't stop. Pidge, ironically their Communications Specialist, remained silent, to no one's surprise._

" _Just—can you stop talking for one moment, Lance? I've got this under control, and we wouldn't have had this issue if you weren't yelling at me the whole time. I know how to fly, and I am the pilot, so I don't need you telling me what to do. And Hunk, try not to puke in the main gearbox—_ again _." Keith kept his eyes forward, but in his peripheral vision he saw Lance mutter something under his breath, turn his head away, and then spin his chair around. It left Keith curious, but he had to leave pondering for later, they were about to crash._

That botched simulation was another one added to their 'failed' list. So far they had no successes, they hadn't even come close. Commander Iverson, as per usual, made it a point to call them out in front of everyone.

"Once again, cadets, this team is a prime example of what _not_ to do." His words raised a few snickers, but they were shut down by his glares. After meticulously and mercilessly pointing out each and every one of their mistakes to everyone, he faced them, and Keith noticed his teammates hang their heads. "If the four of you cannot get your acts together and work as a team, you _will_ fail, and you _will_ be forced to drop out."

Commander Iverson walked up to Keith so they were face-to-face, staring into each other's eyes. "Is that clear, Keith?" He then lowered his voice and spoke so that only Keith could hear, "we wouldn't want all that potential to be wasted, would we?"

Keith replied in the same volume, and tone. "Nobody tells me how to fly… nobody." He thought he saw the commander's eye twitch and fist clench, but then the man stepped back, dismissing the class. Keith turned around just before exiting the room and found Commander Iverson watching intently, causing anger to flare up inside of him. Keith knew that his instructor was dangerous, but it was getting more difficult to actively avoid falling into a trap.

Back at the dorm an obvious tension filled the air. Every failed simulation ended the same way, with everyone pissed. A silence always fell between them, unusual for Lance and Hunk, and no one ever attempted to break it.

What was broken, however, was their teamwork; but no one made an effort to fix that. Instead they stayed the way they currently were—full of miscommunications, fights, and sometimes, just silence.

* * *

Keith rarely participated in class discussions. Even though it wasn't working out he was still trying to stay hidden as much as possible, and the topics never interested him anyways. He usually zoned out, entertaining himself with his thoughts. Recently he spent a lot of his time theorising about his mother's dagger, and how he could get her to open up about it. Occasionally he would come to his senses and remind himself that he should be focusing on passing the semester at the Galaxy Garrison first, but after taking one look at his class he'd decide that perhaps it wouldn't be worth the effort.

This time, however, Keith found himself drawn to the conversation no matter how hard he tried otherwise. He had no clue what the broader topic was about, although he gathered it had something to do with teamwork and missions. Keith had been zoning in and out of the conversation, but was finally drawn in when someone exclaimed that a team had to stay together, no matter what. That intrigued Keith, to say the least. As he rarely had any companions growing up the whole concept of teamwork and the dependency members were supposed to have on each other was completely new to him; and it was a concept he did not particularly like. He believed that it was what led to the failure of a mission, or the downfall of a particular being. He continued listening to his classmates to get an idea of their stances and found that they were mostly in agreement. Anyone who wasn't completely on their side only needed a bit of convincing to change their mind. Soon, their instructor regained their attention.

"Is that it? Can we close the discussion?" There were nods all across the room, and normally Keith would not care for the results, but this time there were words at the back of his throat itching to get out.

"You should carry on with the mission no matter what." If Keith was still trying to remain under the radar, well, he had really done it now. Almost all the heads in his class turned to look at him, and there was a suspension of silence before the room erupted with shouts. At first they were all directed at Keith, asking him why, or what made him think that, and it was honestly overwhelming. Before he was forced to respond, however, some of his classmates began arguing with each other again. Some of them reverted to their old stance, using Keith's comment to fuel their new ideas.

Before long their instructor quietened them down again, then asked Keith to elaborate on what he had said. "Keith, it's nice to have you join in on the discussion for once. Would you care to go into a bit more detail? It's only fair, since everyone had agreed on a view until you spoke."

Everyone was watching him again, and Keith could feel himself heating up from the attention. His instructor had directly asked him a question though, so there was no way for him to escape.

"Um… if you think about it, sometimes a team just does _not_ work well together, you know?" Keith was planning on being really general, saying as little as he could before getting away with it but as soon as the first words left his mouth it was like he had taken a truth serum. There was suddenly no filter, and something in him was no longer restricting his words. "If, say, you've been forced into a team you don't want to be a part of and there is no chemistry between the members will you really put their importance over the mission's?" That raised a few interjections, asking whether Keith would be so cruel and just let his team members _die_.

"No! No one has to die! I'm just saying, if you had to choose between continuing a mission—meaning you could gain valuable information—and pulling back with your team, because something went wrong or someone wasn't on top of their game, which would you pick?" Keith saw a few of his classmates nod in agreement, and was glad he wasn't the only one with this view. Someone even backed him up.

"You could even save someone or many people if you continue a mission! If you stayed with the team, they might've died!"

"That's an example of an extreme case though, generally they wouldn't be like that!"

"Okay, then _generally_ speaking, I think you're wrong!"

The class went back to the heated debate and this time their instructor didn't stop them, wanting to hear the new arguments and points everyone had. Keith sat back, not wanting to engage any more than he already had. He also didn't really care about the discussion anymore, he heard what the other side had to say, and he was hearing plenty from his own side. Instead he glanced around the classroom, eyes falling on Lance, who was sitting across from him. When they made eye contact, Keith could tell Lance had already been watching him, yet he didn't tear his gaze away like anyone else would. They settled for glaring at each other, not really communicating but also not doing nothing. After taunting the other through their expressions for some time, Lance was called back into the conversation.

"Hey Lance, what do you have to say? You had some pretty strong opinions the first time."

"Well my viewpoint is still the same, if that's what you're asking. I believe that even if you're put in a team with people you don't know, you should still be making an effort. You can't get anything done, you can't complete missions, if the team members aren't working together. You're in it together now, whether you like it or not. You can't just go off doing things and deciding things on your own." Keith listened to what Lance said and although he wouldn't admit it aloud, he thought the boy made some strong points. And then Lance attacked him. "You hear that, Keith? We are stuck together. No matter how hard you try on your own we have to work together if you want to pass. Do you think you're better than everyone else or something? Is that why?"

Before Keith could reply, to defend himself, a classmate cut in and brought up the drama about his age. That subsequently started a new discussion, one Keith was very uncomfortable with. He looked over at the instructor, hoping he would put an end to all this, but he either wasn't listening or he just didn't care. That made Keith angry. It made Keith angry because he did not ask for attention, and he didn't know what he did to deserve such a reputation. He was irritated with Lance; he could not believe he had blamed him for the state of their team. Keith knew that their team did not work well together, but he had never thought to blame it on anyone, not even once. What Lance said implied Keith was the one pulling everyone back. He did not agree, and since Lance made it personal, he saw no reason why he shouldn't as well.

"This is about the practice simulations isn't it? Do you really think _I_ am the issue here? Not Pidge, who won't even utter a word to us; not Hunk, who gets extremely motion sick way too easily; not you, who will not back off and just let me fly?"

Lance flinched, and then his surprised expression turned into one of fury. "Oh, you've really done it now, Mullet Head. Do you think I enjoy just sitting there doing nothing while you're leading the team, piloting, and living my dream?"

"That's not my fault!" Keith cut in, feeling slightly guilty. He remembered what Hunk told him ages ago and was beginning to wish he didn't heed Hunk's words and instead swapped roles with Lance. Keith honestly didn't like being a leader. He didn't like others relying on him, he didn't want that kind of responsibility.

"Doesn't matter! You're there now, and it can't be changed. Anyways, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I wouldn't have to be telling you what to do if you were doing things right! You're just doing what _you_ want, without any consideration of the team. You want to know why Hunk ends up puking all the time? Because _you're_ flying too harshly."

"Okay, but since I'm the one who is in charge, I think that means I can fly how I want."

"Not when you're with other people, not when you're in a _team_!"

The two of them went back and forth for a while, and at some point one of them accidentally cursed. The insults eventually became less classroom-friendly, and that was when their instructor interjected.

"What did I just hear come out of your mouths?" He directed the question at both of the boys, but neither of them answered. The entire classroom went silent, and every student in the room hung their heads. "This has gone on long enough, and I believe you two need some reminding that this kind of language is not appropriate here. I'm sticking you two on cafeteria cleaning duty for the rest of the day. I hope that you two learn to respect each other and get along, because I've just about had it with your attitudes."

After leaving the class in silence for a moment longer to allow the information to sink in, the instructor then continued with his class. There was little chatter for the remainder of the lesson which made it more difficult for Keith to get a control of his emotions. He didn't doubt others weren't feeling the same way he was, but it was like he was the only one who had been reprimanded. While his classmates returned to normal, albeit being more careful, Keith felt ashamed to the point where he could barely move. It was the first time he had been called out in front of class, in front of everyone, and suddenly he was hyperaware of everything going on around him. Although his instructor was barely sparing him a second glance, Keith felt like he was being watched, and had to be cautious of all his actions.

The irritation Keith felt towards Lance earlier was back, and its intensity was increasing. Multiple times now Lance had gotten Keith into trouble, or distracted him from the task at hand. Keith was also upset at himself for not being able to avoid Lance's antics, but he was more so just pissed off at Lance. So far every time something happened Keith stayed silent, but he didn't know how much longer he would be able to hold it in. The fact he was stuck with Lance on cleanup duty didn't help and, regardless of what the instructor said, he knew it would not solve the issue between them. He just hoped that he would be able to get by without snapping.

* * *

Cafeteria cleaning duty _sucked_. What made it worse was that Lance was there with him. Keith imagined that after what happened in the morning Lance would calm down, stop taking jabs at him, but he was wrong. Lance looked so carefree, and it seemed like he was speaking without a filter, exactly the _opposite_ of what their instructor wanted. As the day went on, Lance got more relaxed, while Keith was finding it harder to hold his tongue.

Recess was right after their class, and that first cleanup went by smoothly. The two were still affected by what happened in class earlier, and the break was a short one, so there wasn't much time for anything besides wiping down tables and throwing rubbish away. While pushing chairs in and picking up what his schoolmates had left behind, Keith couldn't help but feel disgusted. He didn't understand how they could be so disrespectful and inconsiderate of others, leaving chairs strewn all over the place and packagings all around. Even though he was royalty and had others serving him, Keith always tried his best to clean up after himself, it felt rude otherwise. While tidying the cafeteria Keith realised that there would barely be a need for cleanup duties if everyone just picked up after themselves, which only irked him more.

Things started to go downhill after lunch. As it was a bigger mealtime, it meant there was a bigger mess. Keith and Lance swapped tasks, which meant Keith was responsible for mopping the floor and cleaning up anything on it, while Lance was responsible for the tables. After the first cleanup Keith decided that it wasn't so bad, if he got a rhythm going it really wasn't that difficult. What he didn't account for was that Lance would be talking. Keith didn't know whether he was talking to him or talking to himself, but either way it didn't seem to matter. Although he wasn't getting any response Lance continued on. At first he was recounting what happened in his classes, then about what he was going to do later in the day. It was distracting, but if Keith tried hard enough he could tune him out.

And then the talking stopped. Lance started singing instead, having made up a song that matched his actions. This threw Keith off, instead of sticking to his own rhythm he found himself moving to Lance's, even though he found the song really annoying. Keith kept alternating between the two rhythms, and it made cleaning up tiring again. He kept missing the pan when sweeping, and he missed the bucket of water with the mop, causing his shoes to get wet. All that time Keith spent after their class and during the first cleanup calming himself down had gone to waste. Very quickly he felt his anger resurfacing, and it was all directed towards Lance.

It wasn't obvious at first, but when Keith was working closer to Lance, he also noticed some suspicious behaviour. Initially he thought Lance's loudness just translated into his actions, which was why he made such grand gestures while wiping the tables, but then he saw things drop onto the floor. Keith did not want to think Lance was purposely pushing rubbish off the tables and onto the floor in order to create more work for Keith, so he wrote it off as a fluke. When he saw it happen again with a few other tables, Keith couldn't excuse it anymore. But even though he knew what Lance was doing, he couldn't accuse him of anything, he didn't have any proof. He had no choice but to stick through it, wiping and sweeping the floor more than he should've.

Just as Keith was almost done, Lance let out a loud whoop. Keith turned to look at him, and saw that he was putting the cleanup tools away. Keith went back to cleaning, not wanting to see Lance's gleeful face. When Lance went back to singing Keith found it odd as he wasn't doing anything anymore, but then he noticed the lyric change. Instead of singing about his cleanup tasks, Lance was singing about how he beat Keith. He sung about how he was better, faster, and the best. Normally Keith would've been unaffected but seeing as the only reason Lance finished earlier was because he made his own mess Keith's, he was feeling pretty pissed off. Still, remembering his mother's words, he tried his best to ignore it. Even when Lance called out to him before he exited the door to ask "what's taking you so long, Keith? Better pick up the pace, or you're going to be late for class" Keith bit his tongue and remained silent. When Lance finally left the room Keith began muttering to himself under his breath, letting some of his rage out.

"Well, if you hadn't been inconsiderate and pushed your rubbish onto the ground I wouldn't still be here. In fact, if you never attacked me during class we wouldn't be cleaning up the entire day today. You go around calling me out, portraying me as some bad guy but what does that make you? Hmph."

Dinner time cleanup had been the final straw. This time, Keith made them split the cafeteria in two, so they both had to clean the tables as well as the floor. Keith did not want another instance where Lance could get away with doing less work. Surprisingly, Lance didn't argue. But he did start taking jabs at Keith again. He didn't sing, much to Keith's delight, but he was directly insulting him. He brought up the topic of what happened earlier, something Keith had been trying to suppress.

"So, Keith… you never did answer my question. You dodged it and changed the topic. I would say that means the answer is yes. You do think you're better, don't you?" Lance had a cocky expression when he looked at Keith, but Keith didn't say anything, so he went back to wiping the table. "I can't really blame you though, I suppose. If I was the lead pilot I wouldn't want anyone under me ordering me around. But I definitely would listen to the other two. Especially Hunk. He shouldn't have to go through what he does every simulation, man."

That made Keith want to speak up. He wanted to say that he didn't mean to make Hunk sick all the time, he was actually probably closest to him out of anyone here, but it wasn't his fault that Hunk got motion sick so easily. Just as Keith opened his mouth to say as much, Lance spoke again.

"Anyways, it is pretty interesting to me how you're a fighter pilot, you know, considering your academic ability. Or rather, lack thereof. I guess flying isn't actually the hard part, but how do you get by with the other stuff? _I'm_ struggling with some of our theory work, and I know that your academics are below me so…" Lance trailed off but at that point Keith furious to the point where he could barely hear what was going on around him. This entire time, Keith had tried to be respectful to everyone, and he tried to stay out of the way. For some reason, Lance would not leave him alone, and he had had enough.

The remainder of the cleanup went by somewhat smoothly. Keith was blocking everything else out and solely focused on his task. Lance was doing… whatever, Keith didn't know, nor care. They finished roughly at the same time, and Keith was a few steps behind Lance when heading back to their dorm room. When inside, their roommates glanced up at them. Pidge seemed to survey the two of them, looking up, down, and between them before going back to his device. Hunk gave Keith a small smile of understanding which he was grateful for, then turned to Lance to ask how cleanup duty was.

"Eh, it was okay. I was fine with it by the end but it's not something I would want to do again. I feel really dirty though, and boy, am I tired. I think—" Lance's words had been cut off by Keith pinning him against the wall. He held his arm against Lance's neck, and _glared_. He wasn't sure what made him suddenly launch at the boy, but he did it, and he didn't know what to do next.

Lance's eyes widened in shock and horror, and Hunk let out a yelp. All eyes were trained on him, even Pidge turned around to see what was happening. Keith wasn't sure how long he held Lance, but the room was in suspense until he dropped him, telling Lance to make sure he will "never do that again". The same tension that filled the air after failed simulations returned, but it increased tenfold. When Keith stormed out of the room, his teammates were still silent, dazed and unmoving, save for Lance's heavy breathing.

* * *

Keith immediately made a beeline for the roof. His day had been filled with negative emotions and he needed to let it out and properly calm down. Curfew wasn't until a while later, so there were still people roaming around, which put Keith off before he realised this actually made sneaking out easier. There were little to no patrollers out right now, and with the amount of people outside their dorms Keith could easily weave around them and go up to the roof. The only risk that remained were his teammates. If they decided to tell someone about what Keith did or that Keith left the dorm and wasn't back by curfew, he could be done for. Nevertheless, it was a risk Keith was willing to take.

Once he got to the roof, Keith found somewhere to lie down and watch the sky above. He was glad there was no cleanup for supper and that it wasn't a compulsory meal; at the moment he really did not want to be around or see anyone.

Keith wasn't actively thinking about anything, he just let his mind drift. Although most of his thoughts were about what happened during the day, the fresh air and light breeze helped Keith dull down the emotions that came with it. He was surprised with how he had acted with Lance, but he didn't entirely regret it. He needed to let the younger boy know that he could not do something like that again. If Lance did end up roping Keith into something again, however, he wasn't sure what he would do. He decided not to dwell on it, and just hoped Lance got the message.

As the sky got darker and the stars shone brighter, Keith found himself searching for constellations. Naturally, that led to him thinking about his mother. The thoughts started off positive—missing her, wondering how she was doing, whether she was overworking herself or not—but soon they turned sour. Like most other recent instances where Keith thought of his mother, he became angry. This time, his surroundings did nothing to calm him down.

Keith wanted to know how she thought he could ever get through this. She sent her only son, her _heir_ , to a foreign planet where they didn't speak the same language. Keith understood that once General Zarkon commanded something nothing could be changed, but it didn't stop him from feeling upset. His thoughts then spiralled and soon he was overthinking. It was something that happened often out here, the vastness broke down all of Keith's walls without effort. He was vulnerable, open, and alone with his thoughts. It started off small, freaking out about some of his exams, formulas he had to memorise. Then it was about the bigger image. He ran through scenarios of how the practice simulation would go on the actual day—not good—and in turn, how he would be expelled.

Once he was expelled, Keith would have nowhere to go. He would have no way to communicate with anyone at home, and he had no connections to anyone on this planet. He probably wouldn't survive. Even though he had an idea of how things worked over here, theory was different to practice, and he didn't know how he would even get off the desert and to where the closest town or city was.

On the flipside, if a miracle occurred and they did pass, and Keith somehow made graduated from the Garrison Galaxy, what kind of state would he be in? Only half a year had passed since he arrived, and his emotions were already all over the place all of the time. Furthermore, would the druids even be able to supply him with Quintessence to last _years_? And after he graduated, how would he get home? Would someone know to be there to pick him up? How much had things changed back at home, what if it was entirely different? What if Zarkon had taken full control now, and Keith doesn't turn out to be as strong as he thought he was, unable to fight back? What if he becomes everything he vowed not to and ends up powerless, serving the one person he despises?

The future was daunting, and neither path seemed like a good one. Slowly, the pressures built up alongside the rough beating of his heart, and Keith felt like he was being suffocated under the weight of it. Finally, he let out a choked sob, flinging his right arm across his eyes before allowing the hot tears to fall and trickle down his face. The wind was cooling as it passed, but Keith's face still remained wet and almost burning, dried up tears immediately being replaced by new ones.

 _I can't do this… I won't get through this…_

* * *

The one good thing that always occurred after Keith overwhelmed himself was that he wouldn't be in that state again any time soon. After pouring out emotions the previous day and letting them wash over him, he was able to shove them, along with the thoughts that came with, into the back of his head, repressing them temporarily. Keith then built his walls back up, not only keeping others away, but also keeping himself away. Everything was back to normal… Except for his dynamic with his teammates. It was now very, _very_ , awkward between him and everyone else. If Keith had any hopes of getting close to them and working together before, they were gone now.

The most drastic change was with Lance. Keith guessed his message got across, but perhaps too far. It wasn't very obvious, but Keith soon noticed a silence. He realised Lance wasn't talking as much to him, or during class in general, which in turn meant that Keith was speaking less as well. Most of the time the only reason Lance spoke was because he was called on, whether it was by his classmates or by the instructor. Aside from it being in his speech, he also looked to be more on guard, timid. Whenever Keith walked near or past the boy, he seemed to be watching his every move, and once Keith thought he saw him flinch. Keith found it very weird, seeing his normally boisterous and bubbly teammate suddenly quieten down and become cautious. It was almost as if Lance had become some version of Keith, except a version that was always around people, and one that followed the rules a lot more.

When Keith had gone to ask Hunk for some help with homework one time, he immediately noted that the larger boy looked somewhat uncomfortable, as if he had been put in a position he _really_ did not want to be in. Not wanting any hostility to arise between them, Keith brushed it off saying he could just ask someone else, even though they both knew that was a lie. Hunk stopped Keith from leaving, and said yes to helping with a sigh. In the middle of doing their exercises, and in an unfamiliar silence, Hunk turned to Keith and hesitated, before telling Keith that next time he won't be letting him do that to Lance. He then immediately turned back, pouring all of his attention into his work, with an expression on his face like he couldn't believe what he just did. The only response Keith gave was a simple nod, but he admired the fact Hunk stood up for his friend.

Pidge was the only one who didn't outwardly behave around Keith any differently. Like always, he was rarely present, and if he was then he wasn't paying attention to anyone around him. Recently though, Keith caught their shortest member glancing at him a lot, more than usual, anyways. On the occasions they made eye contact, neither of them would break it, and Keith felt like Pidge was trying to dig into him, find something out. Those glances were more frequent now, and Keith didn't really know why—he looked away as soon as Keith turned his head. The next time their eyes locked, Keith decided to glare at Pidge, but he did not back off. Instead, he shook his head and went back to whatever he was doing, looking disappointed. For some reason that made Keith feel ashamed and guilty, as if he had been scolded.

So yeah, Keith was really beginning to regret how harsh he came off that day. And to make matters worse, their current state threw off their basically non-existent teamwork, which Keith hadn't even imagined was possible. They weren't making any more progress with the practice simulations, and those dreadful feelings were creeping up once more.

* * *

It was an off day, and Lance and Hunk woke up to a room with no one else in it. They briefly discussed where their teammates could be—Hunk saw Keith leave moments earlier after spending a while in their bathroom and he probably went to go train somewhere, while Pidge hadn't been seen at all—before getting dressed and heading down to the cafeteria to eat.

Recently the two boys hadn't been as talkative with each other. They were still as close as ever, but neither of them seemed to want to make small talk. It was beginning to concern Lance. He didn't want their relationship to turn into the one like they had with their other teammates. So, after sitting down with their meals, Lance decided to talk to Hunk about it.

"Hey, uh, are we okay?" Even though nothing happened between the two of them that would make things different, Lance still felt nervous asking.

"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't we be?" It was Hunk's turn to be nervous, he briefly set down his fork and stared intently at Lance.

"I don't know… I just feel like we haven't exactly been ourselves, you know? We aren't really talking much aside from when we need help or in order to make a decision."

"Mmh, I get what you mean. I've felt that way too, a bit. I think with what happened with Keith recently… that shook us up quite a bit. I, um, told him off for that though. Told him I wouldn't let him do that to you again." Hunk looked down at his plate sheepishly and missed the massive grin that grew on Lance's face.

"What! Really? That's crazy, man. How did you do it? I for sure wouldn't have been able to."

"Honestly I can't really believe I did it either. I was helping him with his work, and then suddenly I was telling him off. For the rest of the time afterwards I didn't—couldn't—look up, and I was sweating so much it was beginning to get hard to write." Hunk laughed at the memory, even though he had been terrified at the time. Lance chuckled too, and Hunk was glad to see his friend in a relaxed state again.

"No way! Thanks for that, though."

"Yeah, of course. You're my best friend, I'm going to stand up for you."

"Aw, come on. Now you've got me emotional! Bring it in." Lance opened his arms for a hug, which he obviously didn't plan very well, because they ended up hugging over the table, arms barely getting around each other.

They went back to eating, and things seemed to return to normal. Hunk made jokes, Lance laughed, and they almost got into trouble for throwing some food around. All was well again.

"Did you see the face of the staff member when I raised my arm with a fistful of food? It was _golden_." The two boys decided to roam the hallways after eating, and were looking back on their eventful mealtime. They didn't mean to cause any disruptions, but it was fun to rile up the staff members.

"I still can't believe you did that! Wh—wait, is that Pidge? And Iverson?" Lance turned his head to see where Hunk was looking and sure enough there Pidge was, face to face with Commander Iverson. Neither of them looked happy, they both had unpleasant expressions and their voices were steadily rising.

"We have to do something about this!" Lance took off in their direction leaving Hunk no choice but to follow closely behind.

When they got closer, they could hear more of what was going on. "This is a restricted area," Commander Iverson was saying, "I can get you expelled for this, you know?" Both boys flinched but didn't stop moving. As soon as they were in earshot Lance called out Pidge's name, wanting to end the conversation in any way possible. Pidge and Commander Iverson both turned to look at Lance and Hunk, but Lance didn't speak again until he was in front of the commander.

"I'm so sorry about this, we were playing hide-and-seek and I guess Pidge here got too into it. But it's over now! I've found him. Sorry again. Let's go now," Lance gave a salute then put his arm around Pidge's shoulder and turned them around. They then briskly walked away so Commander Iverson had no choice but to let them go.

Once they put a fair amount of distance between them and the commander, Lance dropped his arm and they stopped walking.

"Lance, what were you thinking! That could've gotten you expelled too!" Lance was surprised Hunk had kept calm the entire time, but apparently he was holding it in then and letting it out now. In lieu of replying to Hunk, Lance turned to Pidge and asked if he was okay.

"I—" Pidge seemed to be taken by surprise, "uh—yeah." There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "Thanks for what you did back there, seriously. Who knows where I might be now if you hadn't stepped in."

Lance _beamed_ , and it was like he was glowing. He then turned to Hunk and had a silent conversation with him, which resulted in them both looking at Pidge, expecting some kind of explanation for what had happened.

Pidge caught on, but didn't answer the way they would've liked. "I know you guys want an explanation for why I was in a restricted area and probably for why I'm so absent all the time, but I just can't provide one right now, sorry." Lance's face dropped and Hunk was about to tell Pidge it was okay when he was interrupted. "What I can do, however, is start participating. I understand I've been selfish, only pursuing my own endeavours and not helping out the team, but I promise I'll start now. I owe it to you guys."

This time, Hunk grinned with Lance. They may not have gotten what they wanted but what they did get was pretty much on par. They were glad it wouldn't just be them two working together now; they could really make some progress with the simulations. Pidge smiled too, and everything was great.

"Come on, now I'm in the mood for hide-and-seek. I'll seek first; you have a minute, go! Sixty, fifty-nine…" Lance turned and faced the wall, counting out loud while Pidge and Hunk ran off laughing.

* * *

 **A/N:** hey hey hey! there are a few things I want to say: **firstly** , sorry for being away so long! this last school term was _pretty_ intense but it's over! I'm on holidays now, which brings me to **my next point**.

unfortunately, I think it's going to be a while until I can update again. I've joined two bang thingies and I think I'll be putting priority on those over this. however! that doesn't mean I won't be working on this. what I might do is try and load up as much as I can for this fic, so when school starts and gets busy I'll be able to just post chapters and update somewhat frequently. (probably won't happen lmao but here's to hoping.)

 **lastly**! I wanted to address the characterisation here. Lance may appear a bit OOC right now or like he's acting rashly but you have to consider the fact he's probably just trying to be playful (disguising his true feelings) but it doesn't come out that way and/or Keith just doesn't get it. not sure if it was just me seeing this but in case anyone else did too I hope this clears things up a bit.

to **The Best Guesst** , thanks for the review! I'm really glad you're enjoying it and I hoped you liked this chapter :))

okay that's it for today (that got long sorry lmao) but if you wanna ask anything or talk I made a sideblog for vld only stuff **riskeith** on tumblr, but my main is **fandomtravellers**


	6. UPDATE & NOTICE

Hey guys.

So first of all lemme apologise. I'm so sorry for not having updated this for over a _year_ , and for not doing this earlier. I wanted to hold back on it because I hoped I'd be able to come back, but I don't want to keep anyone waiting anymore.

Basically, I'm going to put this on hold. It's essentially _been_ on hold since December 2017, but I'm just going to make it official. The thing is, when I planned this and wrote the first few chapters I don't think I really understood the gravity of how like BIG this project is going to be. I mean, it's essentially a rewrite of the _whole_ show (or at least until Zarkon is defeated). That's a lot of writing, and it's a lot of time, and a lot of commitment.

I'm not going to abandon this though. Before the last update I already had up to Chapter 10 planned, and I have a 4k document with all the details for this universe and everything, so I did put a lot of thought into it.

Some day, I'm going to sit down and reread everything I already wrote, and all the things I have planned, and hopefully get back in the groove of things. I'm pretty sure my writing style has changed too, so when I pick this back up I may rewrite the first few chapters. When I do update though, I think I'll have up to Chapter 10 done, because a few of the chapters end on cliffhangers and I don't want to not update when something like that happens. At present day I don't know what will happen beyond that, I have random bits and pieces planned, but rest assured, I'll figure that all out.

That's about it. Sorry again. I tried to make this sound as not wanky as possible but hsdfkjdsjfk

(if you ever want any updates or whatever feel free to send an ask to my tumblr or message me)


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